28.12.2014 Views

• ParkBulletinCover - The Park School

• ParkBulletinCover - The Park School

• ParkBulletinCover - The Park School

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

Fall Bulletin 2009<br />

Annual Report Issue


Board of Trustees 2008–09<br />

Alumni Committee 2008–09<br />

Fall Bulletin 2009<br />

Annual Report of Giving 2008–09<br />

Officers<br />

Kevin J. Maroni Chair<br />

Paula A. Johnson Vice Chair<br />

Richard Banks ’74 Secretary<br />

Lisa Black Franks ’78 Treasurer<br />

Marcus Cherry<br />

Teresa Chope<br />

John Connaughton<br />

William B. Drucker<br />

Richard Edie<br />

Abigail Johnson<br />

Brian Kavoogian<br />

William H. Kremer<br />

Martin J. Mannion<br />

Anne Punzak Marcus<br />

Stuart Mathews<br />

Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86<br />

Pamela McLaurin<br />

Nicole Murray<br />

Happy Rowe<br />

Carmel Shields<br />

Garrett Solomon ’86<br />

Harold Sparrow<br />

Suzie Tapson<br />

Lanny Thorndike ’81<br />

Ralph L. Wales<br />

Ex Officio<br />

Jerrold I. Katz<br />

Head of <strong>School</strong><br />

Cynthia A. Harmon<br />

Assistant Head for Program &<br />

Professional Development<br />

Jane H. Carney<br />

Assistant Head for Finance & Operations<br />

Board Chairs Emeriti<br />

Kennett F. Burnes<br />

David D. Croll<br />

Charles C. Cunningham, Jr.<br />

George P. Denny III<br />

David G. Fubini<br />

M. Dozier Gardner<br />

John L. Hall II<br />

J. Michael Maynard<br />

Anne Worthington Prescott<br />

Deborah Jackson Weiss<br />

Headmaster Emeritus<br />

Robert S. Hurlbut, Jr.<br />

Minnie Ames ’86 Co-Chair<br />

Ali Epker Ruch ’89 Co-Chair<br />

John Barkan ’85<br />

Peter Barkan ’86<br />

Bob Bray ’53<br />

Lisa Amick DiAdamo ’86<br />

Mark Epker ’86<br />

Rachel Levine Foley ’85<br />

Abigail Ross Goodman ’91<br />

Anne Collins Goodyear ’84<br />

Jennifer Segal Herman ’82<br />

Jeff Jackson ’95<br />

Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93<br />

Greg Kadetsky ’96<br />

Rich Knapp ’80<br />

Amy S. Lampert ’63<br />

Abbott Lawrence ’85<br />

Nia Lutch ’97<br />

Melissa Daniels Madden ’85<br />

Allison Morse ’89<br />

Chip Pierce ’81<br />

Meredith Ross ’86<br />

Jordan Scott ’89<br />

Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89<br />

Garrett Solomon ’86<br />

Kathrene Tiffany ’96<br />

Anna Sullivan ’95<br />

Eve Wadsworth ’95<br />

Diana Walcott ’85<br />

Phoebe Gallagher Winder ’84<br />

Editor<br />

Kate LaPine<br />

Design<br />

Irene Chu<br />

Photography<br />

Coffee Pond Photography<br />

Kate LaPine<br />

Jerilyn Willig<br />

Printing<br />

Jaguar Press<br />

<strong>The</strong> Bulletin is published twice yearly<br />

for the alumni, parents, and friends of<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong>. We welcome your<br />

comments and ideas.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

171 Goddard Avenue<br />

Brookline, Massachusetts 02445<br />

To contact the Bulletin:<br />

Kate LaPine<br />

Director of Communications<br />

617-274-6009<br />

kate_lapine@parkschool.org<br />

To report alumni news:<br />

Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98<br />

Director of Alumni Relations<br />

617-274-6022<br />

alumni@parkschool.org<br />

To support <strong>Park</strong>:<br />

Rob Crawford<br />

Director of Development<br />

617-274-6020<br />

rob_crawford@parkschool.org<br />

To report address changes:<br />

Sarah Braga<br />

Development Office Manager<br />

617-274-6018<br />

development@parkschool.org<br />

<strong>Park</strong> is a coeducational school that admits<br />

qualified students without regard to<br />

race, religion, national origin, disabilities,<br />

sexual orientation, or family composition.<br />

Our educational policies, financial aid,<br />

and other school-sponsored programs are<br />

administered in a nondiscriminatory manner<br />

in conformance with applicable law.<br />

Third graders spend an entire term learning about color. To create these small landscape paintings,<br />

they think about mood, season, and color. All paintings are tempera on canvas, 6”x 8”<br />

Front Cover: Matt Kaufman ’15; Inside Back Cover: David Tsai ’15; Back Cover: Caroline Collins-Pisano ’15


<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

Fall Bulletin 2009<br />

In this issue:<br />

2 Around <strong>Park</strong><br />

Irish Fiddling<br />

Ruby Bridges Visits <strong>Park</strong><br />

Math Carnival<br />

Nancy Faulkner Retires<br />

6 New Trustees<br />

Heidi Johnson<br />

Patti Kraft<br />

Peter Riehl<br />

8 Graduation 2009<br />

Graduation Address: Andrew Ostroff ’03<br />

Class of 2009 Graduation Speakers: Josh Ruder and Carter Smith<br />

16 Reunion 2009<br />

Class of 1984 25th Reunion Biographies<br />

22 Summer Reading<br />

Community Read<br />

Teachers’ Summer Reading<br />

War and Peace on Bread Loaf Mountain<br />

36 Alumni Notes<br />

Alumni Achievement Award 2009: Michael R. Deland ’56


around<br />

Ruby Bridges Visits <strong>Park</strong><br />

I<br />

n May, <strong>Park</strong> students in Grades<br />

VI – IX met a living legend. Ruby<br />

Bridges, the little girl immortalized<br />

in the Norman Rockwell painting<br />

(below), walked up the steps of<br />

the William Frantz Public <strong>School</strong><br />

in 1960 to become the first black<br />

student at the formerly all-white<br />

elementary school in New Orleans.<br />

Now, she spends much of her time<br />

visiting school children across the<br />

country, speaking with students<br />

about her story and the many<br />

lessons to be learned from her<br />

experiences.<br />

Musical Horizons<br />

M<br />

aking good use of the 2009<br />

Horizon Fund grant he<br />

was awarded, Adam Young (math<br />

and social studies 2006– ) spent a<br />

week at a fiddle camp on Thompson<br />

Island in Boston Harbor. Next<br />

summer, he’s planning a trip to the<br />

Emerald Isle to refine his fiddling<br />

skills and jam with experienced<br />

Irish musicians. (Former parent and<br />

trustee, Nel Stoia, established <strong>The</strong><br />

Horizon Fund to provide faculty<br />

members with special opportunities<br />

for personal enrichment, travel<br />

and professional development.)<br />

2 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


High Stakes<br />

P<br />

robability theory came to life<br />

for Dr. Chris Hartmann’s Grade<br />

VII math class in February. Upon<br />

entering the classroom, visiting<br />

second graders each received ten<br />

tickets that they could use at the<br />

Math Carnival. <strong>The</strong> older students<br />

had designed and created presidential<br />

probability games that<br />

cost one to three tickets to play,<br />

based on the chances of winning.<br />

Everyone really was a winner at<br />

this event!<br />

Faculty Updates 2009<br />

R E TI R E M E NT S :<br />

Nancy Faulkner Archivist 1972–2009<br />

D E PART U R E S :<br />

Nell Broley Grade IV teacher<br />

Mary Carpenter Grade IV teacher<br />

Deborah Dean Kindergarten assistant<br />

Garbielle Kyriakides Grade I teacher<br />

Quiana Rudek Kindergarten assistant<br />

Janet Wasserman business office<br />

S A B B ATI C AL S :<br />

Marshall Neilson technology specialist<br />

Alan Rivera French & Spanish teacher<br />

CHANGES:<br />

Rebecca Abrams Grade I teacher — returning<br />

from parental leave<br />

Alison Connolly math teacher and secondary<br />

school counselor — previously Upper Division<br />

head<br />

Alice Perera Lucey ’77, Upper Division head —<br />

previously English/social studies teacher and<br />

secondary school counselor<br />

Jessica Niebuhr, Grade II teacher — was intern<br />

in 2008–09<br />

Amy Salomon Grade II teacher — on parental<br />

leave from 2009–10<br />

APP O I NTM E NT S :<br />

Irza Almonor-Collinson controller<br />

BA Mercy College<br />

Scott Fries After-<strong>School</strong> Program teacher<br />

BS Springfield College<br />

Christine Lindsay technology specialist<br />

BA Trinity College; MS University of Hartford;<br />

MEd Framingham State College<br />

Meg Lloyd ’98 Kindergarten assistant<br />

BA Union College<br />

Shalini Rao Grade IV teacher<br />

BS University of Connecticut; MA University of<br />

Connecticut<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 3


Nancy Faulkner<br />

Bids Adieu to <strong>Park</strong><br />

After six different job titles and at least seven<br />

assorted office locations around the <strong>Park</strong><br />

<strong>School</strong> campus (including the projection booth<br />

and the faculty room), Nancy Faulkner retired in June.<br />

“<strong>Park</strong> has been part of my life for over 45 years, I’m<br />

astonished to realize,” Nancy admits. “I’m a New Jersey<br />

public school girl myself, but my husband, Kim (<strong>Park</strong> ’45),<br />

was one of seven Faulkner siblings who attended <strong>Park</strong>.<br />

Emily (Molly), the eldest of our three daughters, started<br />

in <strong>Park</strong>’s three-year-old Nursery class over on Kennard<br />

Road in the fall of 1964. I could hardly have foreseen the<br />

many ways in which the <strong>School</strong> would come to mean so<br />

much to me as a parent, a volunteer, and as a long-time<br />

employee.”<br />

Recently, Nancy has spent much of her time underground,<br />

managing the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> Archives, which<br />

resides, in part, in the old female coaches’ office near the<br />

big gym in the main building. In this and a couple<br />

of other makeshift hideaways, Nancy dealt with all sorts<br />

of <strong>Park</strong> treasures that have been squirreled away: antique<br />

photographs, samples of student work, anthologies from<br />

the 1920s on, trustee records, catalogs, Educational Policy<br />

Committee reports, and even a rather fragrant old football<br />

helmet! But the real treasure-trove of knowledge and<br />

school lore is Nancy herself.<br />

It was the summer of 1972, just after <strong>Park</strong>’s first year<br />

at the Goddard Avenue campus. Headmaster Bob Hurlbut<br />

took up an offer from <strong>Park</strong> parent and neighbor<br />

Nancy Faulkner to help in the office with some of the<br />

<strong>School</strong>’s summer chores. “What serendipity!” she remembers.<br />

“<strong>The</strong> admissions person left, and Bob offered me the<br />

job, curiously expanded and replete with a very fancy title:<br />

‘Executive Coordinator of Development, Alumni, Public<br />

Relations, and Admissions!’” Back then, <strong>Park</strong> used a consulting<br />

group to plan the Annual Fund and create materials,<br />

but Nancy made reports, organized volunteers,<br />

generated thank-you notes (“pre-computers; lots of carbon<br />

paper”) as well as interviewed prospective <strong>Park</strong> families,<br />

arranged applicants’ visits, and took on the myriad<br />

tasks associated with developing an admission program.<br />

“<strong>The</strong>re wasn’t a minute to do anything at all about our<br />

alumni,” she adds with chagrin.<br />

4 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


“So, even though I’m not a <strong>Park</strong> alum myself, you<br />

might say that I’ve been an enthusiastic adult student<br />

here. As admission director, I had great fun learning that<br />

role.” Her challenge was to fill the school with new students.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re were 385 kids who moved into the Goddard<br />

Avenue campus, but the new building was designed to<br />

hold 450, so Nancy set to work — bringing new families to<br />

<strong>Park</strong>, reading applications, and figuring financial aid grant<br />

formulas. “Early on, I went to a weeklong conference for<br />

admission directors. I jotted down 32 interesting ideas,<br />

and it took years to finally tick off most items. Later, when<br />

I put on <strong>Park</strong>’s development hat, I had to learn additional<br />

sets of skills. Expand the Annual Fund, coordinate <strong>Park</strong>’s<br />

Centennial Campaign, help plan the year-long celebration<br />

of the <strong>School</strong>’s first 100 years. All wonderful fun! As was<br />

becoming <strong>Park</strong>’s publications director. I loved going over<br />

to Radcliffe Seminars and learning desktop publishing,<br />

for instance, and getting a dose of layout and design. Even<br />

my part-time archives work was enhanced by a week-long<br />

workshop at Taft <strong>School</strong> one summer. My mom always<br />

said I was eager and loved heading off to school every<br />

Nancy said farewell to her <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> friends in June, and some of<br />

her family attended the small gathering in <strong>Park</strong>'s library, as well.<br />

L-R: Nancy's sister Susan Goodridge, daughter Apple Faulkner '80,<br />

husband Kim Faulkner '45, Nancy, and Annie Faulkner '78.<br />

morning. I guess ‘going to school’ has continued to stimulate<br />

me, keep me learning and excited about life.”<br />

Nancy spent just a brief period of time away from<br />

<strong>Park</strong>, working at Milton Academy as admission director of<br />

the (former) Girls’ <strong>School</strong> for three years. A hiatus from<br />

full-time employment followed, and she redirected some<br />

of her boundless energy into volunteer posts at a few of<br />

her other favorite schools, serving as president of the<br />

Middlebury College Alumni Association, board member<br />

of Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont, and<br />

member of the Board of Advisors of <strong>The</strong> Mountain<br />

<strong>School</strong> Program of Milton Academy.<br />

She also served on the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> Board of Trustees<br />

from 1980–85, chairing the Nominating Committee and<br />

working on the Tuition Aid, Long-Range Planning, Summer<br />

Program, and Development Committees. “Another<br />

great experience,” she recalls. During this time, the Board<br />

Nancy’s Many Roles at <strong>Park</strong><br />

<strong>School</strong> Secretary Summer 1972<br />

Coordinator of Development, Alumni,<br />

Public Relations, and Admissions 1972 – 1974<br />

Director of Admission 1972 – 1977<br />

Director of Development 1985 – 1992<br />

Director of Publications 1993 – 1996<br />

Archivist 1997 – 2009<br />

developed headmaster and Board evaluations and welcomed<br />

Creative Arts at <strong>Park</strong> to the campus.<br />

A great believer in professional development, Nancy<br />

became a leader in several organizations. She started an<br />

inter-school admission group that continues today, served<br />

as a behind-the-scenes director of several NAIS admission<br />

workshops, and was very active in a group of development<br />

professionals from Boston-area independent<br />

schools. Here at <strong>Park</strong>, we’ve enjoyed her skills as a writer,<br />

proofreader, and editor. She takes an interest in design<br />

and aesthetics throughout the <strong>School</strong> and, ever the loving<br />

critic, she has helped raise our standards in several areas.<br />

“<strong>Park</strong> continues to be an amazing community,” Nancy<br />

explains. “I’ve developed personal relationships with terrific<br />

people over the years. <strong>The</strong> kids’ Kindergarten teacher<br />

is still a great friend as are so many parents of<br />

our girls’ classmates. I’ve really enjoyed working with<br />

parent volunteers and school leaders as well as with my<br />

wonderful faculty and staff colleagues. I feel so lucky to<br />

have been associated with such a yeasty, bright, articulate<br />

bunch of people.<br />

I feel pleased that my efforts, along with those of so<br />

many others, have contributed to supporting our outstanding<br />

faculty and staff. To have been a small part of this<br />

exceptionally fine school…what could be more satisfying”<br />

So, what’s next for Nancy Faulkner “I’ll try not to get<br />

involved in too many projects,” she says. “I envision more<br />

time for reading, painting watercolors, improving at<br />

bridge, keeping up with old friends, and visiting Molly ’76,<br />

Annie ’78, Apple ’80, and their families, including our six<br />

grandchildren who live in north Idaho, New Hampshire,<br />

and Vermont.”<br />

We are assembling a farewell album to commemorate<br />

Nancy Faulkner’s remarkable career at <strong>Park</strong>. Please send a note<br />

with your reflections and recollections about Nancy<br />

by November 1, 2009. Pictures are welcome, too. Thank you!<br />

Album for Nancy Faulkner<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong>, 171 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 5


EW T R U S T E E S<br />

Heidi Johnson<br />

When Heidi Johnson, her husband<br />

Jeff Paquette, and their children<br />

returned from Johannesburg having<br />

helped found City Year South Africa, the<br />

family wanted to be part of a vibrant educational<br />

community that would embrace<br />

their varied experiences. In 2006, their<br />

daughter, Mikayla Paquette ’17, entered<br />

<strong>Park</strong>’s Pre-Kindergarten, followed by their<br />

son, Jonah Paquette ’19, two years later.<br />

“We value the teachers, staff, and parents,<br />

all of whom openly share their<br />

unique skills and extremely interesting<br />

experiences with the children of <strong>Park</strong>. It<br />

continues to be a wonderful ride for our<br />

whole family.” During their first three<br />

years at <strong>Park</strong>, Heidi has been an active<br />

member of the Parents’ Association and<br />

this year will also serve as Co-Volunteer<br />

Engagement Coordinator.<br />

Heidi grew up in New York City,<br />

where she attended the Ethical Culture<br />

Fieldston <strong>School</strong>. As a young person she<br />

had the opportunity to live on a Navajo<br />

reservation in Arizona. After graduating<br />

from the University of Colorado (Boulder)<br />

with degrees in early childhood education<br />

and environmental design, she received<br />

her Master of Architecture from M.I.T.,<br />

which included a fellowship at the Kunstakademi<br />

in Copenhagen. As an architect<br />

at BTA (Ben Thompson Associates), she<br />

worked on large “festival marketplaces”<br />

including South Street Seaport in New<br />

York, Navy Pier in Chicago and projects in<br />

London, Singapore, and Tokyo.<br />

A major focus of her professional work<br />

has been to translate the mission and<br />

values of organizations into experiential<br />

environments, events, and communication<br />

tools—through architecture and graphic<br />

design. Heidi has worked with many social<br />

sector organizations, such as Citizen<br />

<strong>School</strong>s, Oxfam America, and City Year,<br />

where she has served as the founding creative<br />

director for the past 20 years. Additionally,<br />

she has taught at Rhode Island<br />

<strong>School</strong> of Design and served on architectural<br />

juries at both Harvard and M.I.T. In<br />

the past two years, Heidi has served as<br />

creative strategist for ServiceNation, working<br />

on the live broadcast of the Obama-<br />

McCain Presidential Candidate Forum on<br />

Service and the MTV/ServiceNation Presidential<br />

Inaugural Youth Ball & Service Day.<br />

Heidi is in the process of launching a<br />

new venture: Purple Suitcase, an interactive<br />

discovery center and curriculum that<br />

explores the diverse cultures of the world<br />

through craft, cuisine, and music. Purple<br />

Suitcase encourages children to seek<br />

broader cultural understanding so they can<br />

thrive in our complex global community.<br />

Patti Kraft<br />

Since she first stepped onto the <strong>Park</strong><br />

<strong>School</strong> campus as a parent in the fall<br />

of 2001, Patti Kraft has quietly and consistently<br />

contributed to the community. Serving<br />

as a class representative, library<br />

volunteer, faculty/staff appreciation committee<br />

co-chair, and as the co-chair of<br />

Springfest for two years, Patti has woven<br />

herself into the <strong>School</strong>’s fabric. “I’ve come<br />

to appreciate what a special place <strong>Park</strong><br />

is,” Patti says. “Everyone has similar values<br />

and wants the same things for their<br />

kids—and I want to contribute in any way<br />

I can.”<br />

A native Texan, Patti moved to Boston<br />

to work at Bain & Co. after graduating<br />

from Rice University in Houston. While<br />

serving as an associate consultant at Bain,<br />

she hit it off with another young associate<br />

assigned to the same case team. After<br />

three years, her soon-to-be husband,<br />

6 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


Jonathan Kraft (<strong>Park</strong> ’79) went to business<br />

school, and Patti left Bain to attend<br />

Harvard Law <strong>School</strong>. Upon graduating in<br />

1993, she became a litigation associate at<br />

Goodwin Procter and then went to work<br />

for Governor Weld’s Legal Office as a<br />

deputy legal counsel.<br />

In 1996, when their oldest child,<br />

Harry ’12, was born, Patti stayed home to<br />

raise him. Sadie ’14 and Jacob ’17 joined<br />

the family soon afterwards. Ten years<br />

later, Patti opened Bellezza Home & Garden,<br />

a retail store selling Italian ceramics.<br />

Now she takes annual buying trips to<br />

ceramic studios in Umbria and Tuscany to<br />

place custom orders for the shop.<br />

Patti is active in various organizations<br />

in Boston and Brookline. She serves on<br />

the advisory committee of Gateway Arts,<br />

the Brookline Public Library Foundation<br />

Board, the Brookline Community Mental<br />

Health Center Community Council, and<br />

is a member of the Ethics Committee, the<br />

Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee,<br />

and the Patient Care Assessment Committee<br />

at Children’s Hospital. A longtime proponent<br />

of education, Patti also served on<br />

the Rashi <strong>School</strong>’s board from 1999–2002<br />

and on the board of Citizens United for<br />

Charter <strong>School</strong>s from 1999–2008. She<br />

looks forward to increasing her involvement<br />

at <strong>Park</strong> by serving on the Board of<br />

Trustees.<br />

Peter Riehl<br />

Peter and his wife, Allison Horne, live<br />

in Brookline —around the corner<br />

from <strong>Park</strong>—with their four children, Lilly<br />

’18, Myles ’16, Isabella ’15, and Madeline<br />

(age 16). As a child, Peter attended public<br />

schools in New Jersey, and graduated<br />

from the University of Michigan majoring<br />

in economics and history. He was involved<br />

with the Navy ROTC program and after<br />

graduation, Peter served four years<br />

aboard a Navy destroyer on the West<br />

Coast. After his service, he received an<br />

MBA in finance from the University of<br />

Chicago.<br />

Shortly after business school, fate and<br />

a job with Bain Capital brought Peter to<br />

Boston for the very first time. While purchasing<br />

a condo, he met Allison, the<br />

owner of a mortgage lending company.<br />

Peter is a managing director at Bain Capital<br />

and is the head trader for their global<br />

public equity affiliate, Brookside Capital.<br />

Peter is involved with a number of<br />

local organizations dedicated to improving<br />

the lives of children. He is on the Board of<br />

Overseers of Children’s Hospital and is a<br />

frequent participant in the Children’s Miles<br />

for Miracles Marathon Program. Additionally,<br />

he and his wife are supporters and<br />

volunteers for Horizons for Homeless Children,<br />

Stand for Children (a public school<br />

advocacy group) and the Boston Children’s<br />

Museum.<br />

Peter and Allison found <strong>Park</strong>’s diverse<br />

and active community, committed and<br />

enthusiastic faculty, rigorous academics,<br />

and spacious campus very attractive and<br />

were thrilled when the opportunity arose<br />

to become part of the <strong>School</strong> last year.<br />

“<strong>The</strong> transition to <strong>Park</strong> last year went<br />

unbelievably well for our whole family,”<br />

Peter explains, “thanks to the genuine<br />

friendliness, openness, and spirit exhibited<br />

everyday by the faculty, students, and parents.”<br />

Peter looks forward to helping to<br />

make a positive impact at <strong>Park</strong> through<br />

his service on the Board of Trustees.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 7


— Class of 2009 —<br />

GRADUATION 2009<br />

8 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


Each year, an alumnus/a with six years of post-<strong>Park</strong><br />

experience addresses the graduating class. Although Andrew<br />

Ostroff came to <strong>Park</strong> somewhat reluctantly as a sixth grader,<br />

he was eager to return as the graduation speaker this June.<br />

Andrew received <strong>The</strong> Ellen Fowler Award for his good<br />

citizenship at his graduation in 2003 and continued to stand<br />

out at Phillips Academy, Andover. Now a double major in<br />

Spanish and economics at Middlebury College, he spent the<br />

spring semester in Madrid as part of the college’s study abroad<br />

program, and he looks forward to returning to Vermont<br />

in the fall.<br />

2009<br />

GRADUATION<br />

ADDRESS<br />

by Andrew Ostroff, Class of 2003<br />

Good morning, everyone: members of the Board, Mr. Katz,<br />

faculty, staff, students, alums, current and former families,<br />

friends, and especially to the Class of 2009. Congratulations!<br />

You have successfully survived the most difficult years of adolescence,<br />

and that in itself is worth celebrating. I promise that the<br />

hard work is over. . . until, of course, you get to college applications.<br />

When Mr. Katz invited me to speak at this year’s graduation<br />

ceremony, I breathed a sigh of relief. Many people dread public<br />

speaking, but the truth of the matter is that I have been secretly<br />

hoping to give this speech for nearly six years. Why, you may ask<br />

Because <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> instilled in me certain values that are central<br />

to my core beliefs, values that shape the person I am today and<br />

how I view the world. I am a firm believer in paying homage to<br />

those that have helped me along the way, and although my remarks<br />

and advice are directed primarily towards the Class of 2009 this<br />

morning, I must admit that I approached this speech with a second<br />

agenda: to thank the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> family for welcoming me with<br />

open arms nearly ten years ago, for embracing my curious intellect,<br />

and most importantly, for helping me to find my moral compass.<br />

I am certain that my life would be quite different had I not<br />

attended <strong>Park</strong>, and in considering this reality, I hope to use these<br />

next few minutes to share with you how my <strong>Park</strong> education continues<br />

to help me tackle the most difficult of hurdles even today, but<br />

more importantly, to articulate how your experiences here have<br />

prepared you for the years ahead and the responsibilities you must,<br />

therefore, undertake.<br />

My <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> career began in the fall of 1999 – a timid,<br />

redheaded boy with a face full of freckles and an oversized backpack<br />

unhappily trudged up the steps to the Upper Division. Don’t get me<br />

wrong; I was excited and ready to begin a new chapter in my life,<br />

but I desperately wanted to follow in the footsteps of my family by<br />

attending a school not too far from here that had welcomed my sister<br />

four years prior, both of my parents in the 1970s, and each of my<br />

grandmothers nearly sixty years ago. Little did I know at that time<br />

that the educational path I would choose was unique and truly my<br />

own – something I am grateful for today because one attaches a certain<br />

degree of pride to his school mascot, and after four years as an<br />

oak tree, I much prefer being a panther today than a camel, like my<br />

father was thirty years ago. I eventually got over the oak tree situation,<br />

and although I did not understand my parents’ sound reasoning<br />

for choosing <strong>Park</strong> for me ten years ago, I have long been able to<br />

appreciate the benefits of a <strong>Park</strong> education.<br />

Life after <strong>Park</strong> is a gift: students leave this school with an<br />

appreciation for the world far more advanced than others their age.<br />

I know this is a big statement, but my experiences in high school<br />

and college have allowed me to view different cultures, to be a member<br />

of various communities, and to meet a fascinating cross-section<br />

of our world, all opportunities that warrant my arriving at such a<br />

conclusion. One of the cornerstones of a <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> education is,<br />

undoubtedly, a respect of, and appreciation for, diversity. Students<br />

here learn to make friends regardless of our differences, which<br />

are known to divide us later in life. That said, the ease with which<br />

we coexist at <strong>Park</strong> is something I took for granted in my four years<br />

at this school.<br />

➢<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 9


What the Ninth Grade will<br />

Take and Leave Behind<br />

Alex Barden<br />

I will take friendship and self-confidence.<br />

I am leaving the best four years of my life.<br />

Sam Bloch<br />

I will take leadership experience.<br />

I will leave an aura of diligence and a<br />

willingness to do everything the way it is<br />

supposed to be done.<br />

My journey after <strong>Park</strong> took me to<br />

Phillips Academy, Andover, an institution<br />

that holds diversity to be of great importance,<br />

and whose mission calls for a student body<br />

comprised of “youth from every quarter.”<br />

Andover is undoubtedly able to achieve this<br />

goal thanks to a rich history, many generous<br />

donors, and throngs of alumni living all across<br />

the world. Its pool of applicants comes from<br />

every walk of life, and Phillips Academy is<br />

fortunate enough to have many resources to<br />

allow it to select a well-rounded, incoming<br />

class every year. I offer this background<br />

because the reality of the situation is surprising.<br />

Yes, Phillips Academy brings “youth from<br />

every quarter” year after year; the student<br />

body is socially, economically and racially<br />

diverse, coming from 50 states and territories<br />

and 37 countries; 37 percent of students are<br />

self-identified students of color, and 42 percent<br />

receive some form of financial aid.<br />

While such a global reach is impossible for an<br />

elementary school like <strong>Park</strong>, its other admis-<br />

sions statistics are strikingly similar to those<br />

of Andover. So what is the takeaway from all<br />

of this Simply stated, the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

achieves admissions statistics not far off from<br />

those of an internationally known boarding<br />

school twice its size, one that highlights its<br />

diverse student body as both a unique asset<br />

that separates it from its competition, but<br />

also as a selling point to prospective students.<br />

In other words, the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> experience,<br />

in various ways, is something many of the<br />

next schools you will attend strive to achieve.<br />

You will move on to those schools, and what<br />

appears as a simple continuation of your <strong>Park</strong><br />

education is, in reality, a totally new experience<br />

for many of your peers. Diversity is<br />

commonplace at <strong>Park</strong> because we understand<br />

its role in promoting a just society. This, in<br />

itself, allows each of you the opportunity to<br />

be a leader in your new communities next fall<br />

because not only does each or you understand<br />

the merits of diversity, but more importantly,<br />

you appreciate the rewards of a community<br />

that values and celebrates our differences.<br />

Many of your future classmates will be charting<br />

new territories. Class of 2009, lead by<br />

example: you are now the experts.<br />

<strong>The</strong> truth of the matter is that a <strong>Park</strong><br />

<strong>School</strong> education is much more than meets<br />

the eye; students here graduate with a skill set<br />

far more advanced than that of other students<br />

their age. I invite students, faculty and parents<br />

to reflect upon and consider some of the<br />

simplest, yet most important aspects of your<br />

own, your students’ or your child’s Upper<br />

Division education. I draw upon a daily tradition,<br />

one that for many students (myself<br />

included) was a mere formality, and in my situation,<br />

often made me late for soccer practice,<br />

drama, or the bus to the Green Line:<br />

afternoon shake-out. At this point in my<br />

speech, I must recognize Ms. Studley [Dana<br />

Welshman-Studely ’85], my sixth grade advisor,<br />

for crushing my hand on a daily basis.<br />

Thanks to her, I understood the importance<br />

of a firm handshake and eye contact following<br />

my first week at <strong>Park</strong>. She never allowed me<br />

to skip out on shake-out, and on the rare<br />

occasion that I failed to make it up to the<br />

fourth floor, I could always count on her asking<br />

where I had been the previous day.<br />

Shake-out, as far as I am concerned,<br />

serves a number of purposes. In its simplest<br />

form, students learn how to properly shake<br />

hands, something I promise helped you as<br />

10 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


Allegra Borak<br />

I’ll take a strong sense of self.<br />

I’ll leave behind four years of my life,<br />

and what I’ve done with them.<br />

Nikoi Coley-Ribeiro<br />

I will take away a higher dedication to<br />

bettering myself.<br />

I will leave behind my inhibitions that<br />

held me back.<br />

Eliza Cover<br />

I’ll take my amazing memories.<br />

I’ll leave behind a closed-minded way of<br />

thinking.<br />

you interviewed with secondary school<br />

admissions officers earlier this year. I cannot<br />

stress how important a firm handshake is, and<br />

the number of times the person with whom I<br />

shake hands has complimented me on my<br />

ability to do so. Shake-out, however, in a<br />

more general form, to me speaks of maturity.<br />

<strong>Park</strong> students learn to interact with teachers<br />

not only on an academic level, but on a personal<br />

level as well. Said differently, students<br />

here are incredibly fortunate to develop relationships<br />

with faculty members that extend<br />

beyond the classroom, relationships that, for<br />

example, encouraged me to spend four summers<br />

working in <strong>Park</strong>’s Summer Programs to<br />

continue learning from my academic mentors<br />

here. I realized how much I could learn outside<br />

of the classroom, and the ability to interact<br />

with faculty members in a different<br />

context is an asset to any student because it<br />

extends one’s education in unconventional<br />

ways. Teachers assume additional roles in<br />

your life, and it is these relationships<br />

throughout my education that I believe have<br />

propelled me to succeed. None of my friends<br />

had a middle school math teacher who came<br />

to their high school soccer games, nor can<br />

they maintain an hour long conversation at<br />

Starbucks with a former teacher even though<br />

six years have passed since they last worked<br />

together. I implore you: recognize the efforts<br />

of your teachers and how they have prepared<br />

you for life beyond <strong>Park</strong>, both in and outside<br />

of the classroom.<br />

I speak as if my four years here were<br />

nothing short of bliss, but life at <strong>Park</strong> was by<br />

no means easy for me when I arrived in the<br />

sixth grade. My first two years here were an<br />

emotional challenge, and there were many<br />

days when my alarm would sound and I<br />

wanted nothing more than to roll over and<br />

fall back asleep. I feared that I was at the<br />

wrong school, but the truth of the matter is<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 11


Tyler Dillard<br />

I’m taking the early mornings and<br />

unexpected friends.<br />

I’m leaving the excellent teachers that<br />

made my <strong>Park</strong> experience so great.<br />

Jess Franks<br />

I will take with me my leadership experience<br />

that I gained through my role as<br />

leader of Helping Hand.<br />

I will leave behind my two little sisters.<br />

Mary Fulham<br />

I will take with me all of the good times<br />

and new things I learned about my classmates<br />

on <strong>Park</strong> bus rides.<br />

I hope that I will leave behind the message<br />

to younger students that the best way to<br />

have fun is to be yourself and to take risks<br />

because you can’t lose anything by just<br />

being who you really are.<br />

that I was just where I needed to be. A dear<br />

friend, Ms. Wanda Holland Greene, who<br />

relocated to San Francisco last summer, was<br />

always there for me, and when times were<br />

hard, she proved to be my greatest fan and<br />

loudest cheerleader. Her exemplary morals,<br />

winning spirit and concern for my overall<br />

happiness willed me through some very<br />

difficult days. I would imagine many of you<br />

sitting in the audience right now could think<br />

of a similar person from your school days.<br />

Apart from my parents, she taught me more<br />

about life then anyone I know, but I only<br />

recently realized the most important takeaway<br />

from our time together: she taught me<br />

to be a good listener.<br />

We all love to talk, some more than<br />

others, and our words naturally serve a myriad<br />

of purposes: to teach, to call to action and<br />

to vent, among others. Listening, simply<br />

stated, is an art, and also an asset to those<br />

capable of offering their undivided attention<br />

to those with something to say. On an individual<br />

level, my closest friends are those that<br />

know how to listen, and our friendship is a<br />

two-way street, a mutual relationship in<br />

which we are always available for each other.<br />

Listening, to me, symbolizes respect, and<br />

respect is a black-and-white concept, one that<br />

requires no formal definition because the<br />

theory of respect is ingrained in a child’s<br />

mind in his formative years. With time, one<br />

grows to realize, as I have, that the most<br />

important things we learn come from other<br />

people, and that we attain these pearls of wisdom<br />

through listening to others. A keen listener<br />

will earn the respect of his peers, but<br />

more importantly, will gain knowledge many<br />

others might overlook. Our vocabulary is an<br />

indicator of our own character; we learn each<br />

other’s tendencies by internalizing their<br />

words. Parents, friends and teachers speak to<br />

disseminate information and advice, and listening<br />

allows us to identify with their words,<br />

but it also shows the respect one holds for his<br />

speaker and allows for one to better understand<br />

that person as well. A good listener will<br />

not only gain knowledge, but also will better<br />

appreciate a person’s character, and ultimately,<br />

always be one step ahead of everybody<br />

else. So, if you haven’t really been listening up<br />

to this point, start now, because my last piece<br />

of advice this morning is the most important.<br />

My life to date has been a series of<br />

curve balls, one after the next. I take a few<br />

practice swings, step up to the plate, take a<br />

good stance, and prepare for the pitch. Far<br />

too often I begin my swing, ready to crush<br />

the ball out of the park, but then the ball<br />

begins to curve, and I am forced to adjust at<br />

the last second. Instead of the home run, I<br />

settle for a single, or find a gap and manage a<br />

double. Yes, at first I am disappointed<br />

because, let’s be honest, a home run feels so<br />

much better than a base hit; but, as baseball<br />

fans are well aware, a base hit is often more<br />

effective than a solo shot in that my reaching<br />

first requires the team in the field to change<br />

its position. If the next batter gets on base<br />

thanks to gaps that otherwise would not have<br />

been created, and this, in turn, leads to a<br />

string of successful hits, my first single is ultimately<br />

more effective than a solo home run.<br />

So here’s the question: why is this baseball<br />

analogy the most important advice I can<br />

share with you this morning Because the<br />

most difficult decisions I have had to make<br />

in life have come after being repeatedly<br />

thrown curve balls. I am disappointed at first<br />

because, at crucial points in my life, I wanted<br />

the fastball, but was forced to adapt and<br />

adjust to the pitch I received. I only reached<br />

first base when, in reality, I wanted to touch<br />

all four. I had no control of the pitch, and<br />

settled for what I considered to be, at that<br />

time, second best. Fortunately, a teammate<br />

has always managed to drive me home, and<br />

my team tends to win the game. Don’t be<br />

afraid of curve balls – they make you<br />

stronger and you will be faced with many of<br />

them in the years to come. Try not to be disappointed<br />

if you find yourself settling for<br />

what you believe to be second best. When<br />

something is out of our control, how we<br />

approach a seemingly undesireable situation<br />

will, in the long run, build character. And in<br />

12 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


Andrea Galligan<br />

I will take the compassion and patience<br />

<strong>Park</strong> has taught me.<br />

I will leave the hope that other students<br />

will experience the same wonderful<br />

things.<br />

Mercedes Garcia-Orozco<br />

I will take away the experience of coming<br />

as a shy girl and leaving as a proud and<br />

confident individual, along with the self<br />

esteem I’ve created in my five years here.<br />

I am leaving the hope that more kids<br />

will stay for ninth grade because it is an<br />

AMAZING opportunity and experience.<br />

Anna Rose Hale<br />

I’m going to take my voice.<br />

I’m going to leave running down the<br />

hallways singing.<br />

2 0 0 9 G R A D U AT I O N AWA R D S<br />

THE ELLEN FOWLER AWARD FOR CITIZENSHIP<br />

Mary Olney Fulham<br />

Julian Anthony Sayhoun<br />

THE ISABELLA T. GROBLEWSKI ARTS AWARD<br />

Tyler Sheridan Dillard<br />

my experiences, these curve balls have<br />

rewards far greater than those that would<br />

have come from hitting a solo home run earlier<br />

in the game.<br />

I close this morning with the following:<br />

your <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> education, both inside<br />

and outside of the classroom, has positioned<br />

each of you to be leaders in your new communities<br />

next fall. Much of the advice I have<br />

shared with you this morning, like that of former<br />

graduation speakers, is intended to provide<br />

you with a head start, and I ask that you<br />

take my words to heart, apply it towards<br />

future endeavors, and in the years to come,<br />

use it to think not only of yourselves, but of<br />

others as well. You graduate this morning<br />

overcome with enthusiasm, and everybody<br />

here celebrates your accomplishments to date.<br />

I ask of you but one thing: do not forget your<br />

roots. Remember the role that <strong>Park</strong> has<br />

played in your development and how the core<br />

values of this school have contributed to your<br />

own personal character. To the Class of 2009,<br />

I speak for everybody this morning when I<br />

say how thrilled we are to be able to share this<br />

day with you. Congratulations on a job well<br />

done, and we wish you nothing but the very<br />

best as you move forward, and bring a little<br />

piece of the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> to your new communities<br />

next fall. Thank you.<br />

THE HEAD OF SCHOOL’S AWARD FOR<br />

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE<br />

Cary Allain Williams<br />

THE CURTIS E. SMITH ATHLETIC AWARD<br />

Samuel Bendit Bloch<br />

Nzingha Emmani Rawlins<br />

THE JOHN T. SPICER AWARD FOR UNIQUE SERVICE<br />

Maria Mercedes Garcia Orozco<br />

<strong>The</strong> Joan Crocker Award for Community Service<br />

Terry Hamilton<br />

EACH YEAR, the Parents’<br />

Association presents this<br />

award in honor of former<br />

<strong>Park</strong> parent Joan Crocker,<br />

who exemplified the kind<br />

of devotion and steadfast<br />

zeal this award recognizes<br />

in its recipients.<br />

< Terry Hamilton (left) with<br />

P.A. President Teresa Chope.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 13


Ben Logan<br />

I will take away my confidence in my<br />

opinions.<br />

I will leave a tight-knit community.<br />

Henry Lucey<br />

I’m taking my self-knowledge.<br />

I’m leaving my teachers.<br />

Isa Moss<br />

I’m taking the kind words I received from<br />

my teachers and classmates.<br />

I’m leaving my childhood experiences in my<br />

nursery to fifth grade classes.<br />

Class<br />

Graduation<br />

Speaker:<br />

Josh Ruder<br />

W<br />

hen Mrs. Connolly asked<br />

me to come into her office<br />

this spring, my first reaction was to<br />

think, what did I do wrong As I<br />

was walking in, I realized that<br />

there was nothing that I had done<br />

wrong, so I was wondering why she<br />

wanted to talk to me. I was utterly<br />

shocked and honored when she<br />

asked me to speak on behalf of my<br />

amazing class at graduation. I<br />

didn’t even have to think before I<br />

answered that I would of course<br />

accept. Leaving the office and for<br />

the rest of the day, I spent every<br />

free moment that I had thinking<br />

about what to speak about. I came<br />

up with appreciation.<br />

I think that sometimes the students<br />

who go to <strong>Park</strong> don’t appreciate<br />

how special a place this is, and<br />

how lucky we are to come here each<br />

and every day. You might think that<br />

school is boring or not fun, but here<br />

you are surrounded by adults who<br />

want to help you enjoy school as<br />

much as possible while also teaching<br />

you things that will remain part of<br />

who you are forever. At many other<br />

schools, there is more emphasis on<br />

work, work, and more work, and not<br />

on using effective and interesting<br />

methods of teaching. <strong>Park</strong> does its<br />

best to make school engaging for<br />

everyone and is open to new ideas. I<br />

can tell you from experience that at<br />

other schools, students have virtually<br />

no say in what they would like<br />

to learn or what would be good ways<br />

to keep class interesting.<br />

Entering <strong>Park</strong> after a terrible<br />

sixth grade year in public school,<br />

I was so glad to get away from<br />

that school, and I immediately fell<br />

in love with this one. Project<br />

R.E.A.S.O.N. is probably my best<br />

memory of my first year at <strong>Park</strong>,<br />

because it allowed me to connect<br />

with and learn more about my<br />

sensational classmates. Project<br />

R.E.A.S.O.N. is a trip that the seventh<br />

grade takes to a camp in New<br />

Hampshire; they climb Mt. Monadnock,<br />

play games, and do group<br />

bonding activities. <strong>The</strong>re are countless<br />

other memories that I have<br />

of this school that give it a special<br />

place in my heart: Stump Sprouts<br />

and the trip to Spain, to name a<br />

few. For both of these events, I have<br />

amazing memories of hanging out<br />

with everyone in our class and doing<br />

funny and sometimes stupid things.<br />

At Stump Sprouts, we would all<br />

go lie down in the field and just<br />

stare up at the sky and the stars.<br />

We played manhunt in the complete<br />

dark, played tons of “catchphrase,”<br />

and so many other things that<br />

brought us closer as a class. In<br />

Spain, I remember sitting in the<br />

plaza in Salamanca, drinking Fanta<br />

and eating ice cream, talking and<br />

laughing, and all of the people<br />

who lived there were walking by<br />

probably thinking that we were crazy<br />

Americans, but we didn’t care,<br />

because we were enjoying spending<br />

time together.<br />

It’s not only the trips and bonding<br />

time I spent with my classmates<br />

that I will remember, but also the<br />

big projects that I did and other significant<br />

pieces of my learning experience<br />

at <strong>Park</strong>. One project that I<br />

remember was the poetry anthology<br />

that I did in eighth grade. A memory<br />

that stands out is, the night before<br />

it was due, I stayed up until about<br />

midnight putting the finishing<br />

touches on it, gluing things<br />

together and making the cover. It’s<br />

these moments that we will remember,<br />

not what we did in math class<br />

on April 15 th , and they are also what<br />

make <strong>Park</strong> such a special place. <strong>Park</strong><br />

gives us all a unique experience that<br />

we would not have at any other<br />

school, and it is important to appreciate<br />

everything that the faculty,<br />

other staff members, and parents do<br />

to make every moment that we<br />

spend here fantastic. For all of the<br />

effort and time that they put into<br />

organizing events for us, I think<br />

that we have to give them a hand<br />

for doing everything in their power<br />

on our behalf.<br />

<strong>Park</strong> does its very best to instill<br />

its values in each and every one of<br />

its students, whether your first year<br />

is in Nursery, eighth grade, or anywhere<br />

in between. <strong>The</strong>se values<br />

include that friendships should not<br />

be affected by racial, economic, or<br />

religious differences, a love of learning,<br />

being yourself, taking risks; I<br />

could go on for much longer, but I<br />

won’t. <strong>Park</strong> has left its mark on all<br />

of us, and once we realize how much<br />

it has done to make us who we are,<br />

we will fully appreciate its impact<br />

on our lives. Finally, I would like to<br />

thank everyone who has made it<br />

possible for me to be here speaking<br />

in front of all of you: my parents,<br />

grandparents, other family members,<br />

teachers, friends, and the phenomenal<br />

Class of 2009.<br />

14 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


Sophie Moss<br />

I will take with me memories of singing<br />

and dancing down the hallway.<br />

I will leave my childhood memories.<br />

Emmani Rawlins<br />

I will take my ever-growing sense of<br />

self that <strong>Park</strong> has helped me establish<br />

in my seven years here.<br />

I hope to leave behind an image of<br />

myself as a decent human being.<br />

Josh Ruder<br />

I will take with me all of my incredible<br />

memories and friends.<br />

I will leave behind the adults who have<br />

taught me so much.<br />

SECONDARY SCHOOLS<br />

FOR THE CLASS OF 2009<br />

Alex Barden<br />

Boston University Academy<br />

Sam Bloch<br />

Buckingham Browne & Nichols <strong>School</strong><br />

Allegra Borak<br />

Newton South High <strong>School</strong><br />

Nikoi Coley-Ribeiro<br />

Buckingham Browne & Nichols <strong>School</strong><br />

Eliza Cover<br />

St. George’s <strong>School</strong><br />

Tyler Dillard<br />

Phillips Academy, Andover<br />

Jess Franks<br />

Concord Academy<br />

Mary Fulham<br />

Newton Country Day <strong>School</strong><br />

Andrea Galligan<br />

Cambridge Rindge & Latin <strong>School</strong><br />

Mercedes Garcia-Orozco<br />

Lincoln-Sudbury High <strong>School</strong><br />

Anna Rose Hale<br />

Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall <strong>School</strong><br />

Ben Logan<br />

Beaver Country Day <strong>School</strong><br />

Henry Lucey<br />

Brookline High <strong>School</strong><br />

Isa Moss<br />

Brookline High <strong>School</strong><br />

Sophie Moss<br />

Brookline High <strong>School</strong><br />

Emmani Rawlins<br />

Milton Academy<br />

Josh Ruder<br />

Milton Academy<br />

Julian Sahyoun<br />

Concord Academy<br />

Carter Smith<br />

St. Paul’s <strong>School</strong><br />

Lexie Sparrow<br />

Beaver Country Day <strong>School</strong><br />

Lily Steig<br />

Milton Academy<br />

Cary Williams<br />

Milton Academy<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 15


Julian Sahyoun<br />

I will take lifelong friendships and unforgettable<br />

experiences.<br />

I will leave teachers who have taught me<br />

more than just curriculum.<br />

Carter Smith<br />

I will take with me eleven years of<br />

memories and complete confidence in<br />

myself.<br />

I will be leaving the comfortable <strong>Park</strong><br />

environment that I have become so<br />

accustomed to and venture out into<br />

something new.<br />

Lexie Sparrow<br />

I will take the confidence that <strong>Park</strong> has<br />

given me to act as an individual.<br />

I will leave behind the laughs on and off<br />

stage.<br />

Class<br />

Graduation<br />

Speaker:<br />

Carter Smith<br />

W<br />

hen I sat down to write<br />

this speech, the first<br />

thing that came to mind was how<br />

much I have changed since entering<br />

in Nursery [now Pre-Kindergarten],<br />

eleven years ago. If you<br />

didn’t know me as a six-year-old,<br />

you just have to ask any teacher in<br />

this school. <strong>The</strong>y all seem to have<br />

an infamous “Carter story” about<br />

my, let’s say, demanding personality<br />

that they love to tell. I can’t count<br />

how many times I have heard, “Oh,<br />

I remember....” Many love to reminisce<br />

about the smocked dresses<br />

and signature Smith family bow,<br />

which I wore everyday to school.<br />

Mind you, these bows were probably<br />

the same size as my head. I<br />

think the reason people found my<br />

outfits so amusing is because they<br />

created a sweet, innocent facade<br />

that I must say was very deceiving.<br />

For example, when I was in Kindergarten,<br />

we were asked to jump rope<br />

in P.E. and I didn’t want to, so I<br />

went up to Ms. Knight and said, “ I<br />

don’t want to jump rope and you<br />

can’t make me!” and then I proceeded<br />

to stomp out of the gym.<br />

Another one of my favorites is when<br />

I was in music class with Mrs. Allen<br />

and I started to cry. When Mrs.<br />

Allen asked me what was wrong, I<br />

said, “I just want my way Mrs.<br />

Allen. Why can’t I just get my way”<br />

<strong>The</strong>se were trying times for my<br />

teachers, as well as for me. <strong>The</strong> reason<br />

I am sharing these stories with<br />

you is because over my years at<br />

<strong>Park</strong>, they have dwindled and have<br />

gradually transformed into more<br />

positive ones, and I can tell you<br />

that it never would have happened<br />

if it weren’t for the faculty who<br />

believed in me and worked so hard<br />

to help me reach my full potential. I<br />

credit so much of who I am today to<br />

these men and women who shaped<br />

me and became my role models and<br />

friends.<br />

It was seven years ago, but I<br />

still remember every detail of my<br />

oldest sister, Pearson’s, graduation.<br />

I was in the second grade at the<br />

time, and I remember her wet face<br />

and red eyes as she sobbed on the<br />

same risers up behind me. I remember<br />

so clearly someone next to me<br />

handing me a tissue and telling me<br />

to go give it to Pearson in the middle<br />

of the ceremony. As a second<br />

grader, I didn’t really understand<br />

that I was interrupting anything.<br />

<strong>The</strong>n something happened that I<br />

have never forgotten. As I turned<br />

to go back to my seat after the<br />

laughter had died down, Mr. Katz<br />

went to the podium and said, “I<br />

can’t wait ’til you graduate, Carter.”<br />

Me, graduate This was something<br />

my second grade mind couldn’t<br />

really comprehend, but now here it<br />

is today, and to tell you the truth, I<br />

am still not quite sure if I fully<br />

comprehend it. It is so crazy to<br />

think that after this day, I will no<br />

longer be a <strong>Park</strong> student. <strong>Park</strong> has<br />

always been my little stage and I<br />

have always felt comfortable being<br />

exactly who I am on it. I am looking<br />

forward to the adventures ahead<br />

of me at my next school, but this<br />

day is very bittersweet. I am<br />

excited but nervous to have to go<br />

on without my little support system,<br />

my home away from home,<br />

which has always been there, backing<br />

me up every step of the way.<br />

It is impossible to choose what<br />

I will miss the most, because I will<br />

miss it all. Walking down the hall<br />

dying of laughter due to one of<br />

Lexie’s ridiculous inside jokes, acting<br />

like a total fool on T.O.T.A.L.<br />

Day, even our random conversations<br />

in English class prompted by an<br />

“out of the blue” Mary comment.<br />

Over this past year, our grade has<br />

bonded more than I ever thought<br />

possible. Our class has been<br />

through a lot this year, but we have<br />

always come out stronger, proving<br />

our compassion for each other and<br />

tight knit grade. So, as our time of<br />

being <strong>Park</strong> students winds down and<br />

our paths begin to split and lead us<br />

in different directions, I am realizing<br />

how much I am going to miss<br />

every single one of you. Many of<br />

you I have been with since Nursery<br />

or Kindergarten, and we have spent<br />

basically our whole lives together.<br />

So much of our past is this school,<br />

and there are memories in every<br />

single nook and cranny of every single<br />

room. During our trip to Stump<br />

Sprouts in the fall, the most enthusiastic<br />

event was definitely figuring<br />

out what we were going to put on<br />

the memories page in the yearbook.<br />

We all sat together in the living<br />

room and talked about all the<br />

things we remembered throughout<br />

the years. This event was very<br />

adrenalized and very loud, and it<br />

took a very long time since our<br />

escalating volume made it very hard<br />

for anybody to explain or hear anything<br />

clearly over our excited<br />

shouts. Even though we will all be<br />

moving on, I will always look back<br />

and picture those fond memories<br />

and all of my amazing classmates<br />

who I shared them with.<br />

And to the faculty, who have<br />

helped mold me and the rest of my<br />

class into the people we are today,<br />

all I can say is no matter how many<br />

years go by, you will always be an<br />

important part of why I am who<br />

I am, and you will never ever be<br />

forgotten. Now, I will end with a<br />

quote from the wise philosopher,<br />

Hannah Montana, who once said,<br />

“Life is a climb, but the view<br />

is great.”<br />

16 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


Lily Steig<br />

I will take a strong sense of intimate<br />

community.<br />

I will leave half a bottle of spilled<br />

glitter that remains on the floor of the<br />

costume shop.<br />

Cary Williams<br />

I will take with me my passion for literature<br />

and theater that I have acquired over<br />

my decade at <strong>Park</strong>.<br />

I will leave behind my childish immaturity<br />

that <strong>Park</strong> has helped me to outgrow.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 17


Class of 1974—35th Reunion Top (L-R) Alex Bok, Kitta Frost, Sarah<br />

Henry Lederman, Margaret Smith Bell, Chris Randolph, Rodger Cohen,<br />

Heather Crocker Faris Bottom (L-R) Tina McVeigh, Polly Hoppin, Beth<br />

Haffenreffer Scholle, Shady Hartshorne, Jim Bynoe<br />

Alumni from the classes ending in “4”<br />

and “9” came back to <strong>Park</strong> from far<br />

and wide on the Saturday of Mother’s<br />

Day weekend. This year, Reunion took place in<br />

the newly-renovated library, which turned out<br />

to be a wonderful party-central.<br />

Early birds were treated to a campus tour<br />

around the building’s old and new spaces.<br />

Head of <strong>School</strong> Jerry Katz, Alumni Committee<br />

member Ali Epker Ruch ’89, and Director of<br />

Alumni Relations Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98 all<br />

spoke briefly to the assembled crowd before<br />

Reunion photos commenced. <strong>The</strong> party finally<br />

broke up when the different classes departed<br />

for further revelry at their class-specific reunion<br />

dinners.<br />

Many thanks to the dozens of reunion<br />

volunteers who helped to make Reunion 2009<br />

a memorable event for all who attended.<br />

We look forward to seeing the “5s” and “0s”<br />

next spring!<br />

Class of 1979—30th Reunion Top (L-R) Nadia Belash McKay, Cary Godbey<br />

Turner; Middle (L-R) Sally Solomon, Wendi Daniels, Madeleine Rains; Bottom<br />

(L-R) Tony Mack, Lalla Carothers, Holly Dando, Steve Georgaklis<br />

18 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


Class of 1984—25th Reunion Top (L-R) Caron Lipsky Savenor,<br />

Kate McNay Koch, Laura Church Wilmerding, Tara Albright Robinson;<br />

Bottom (L-R) Phoebe Gallagher Winder, Adam Weitzman, Anne Collins<br />

Goodyear<br />

Top to bottom: Jim Bynoe ’74; <strong>The</strong><br />

women of 1979: Nadia Belash McKay,<br />

Sally Solomon, Wendi Daniels, Madeleine<br />

Rains, Holly Dando, Cary Godbey Turner;<br />

Grace Faturoti ’99 and Carrie Pierce ’99<br />

check out some clay masks in the art studio<br />

Top to bottom: Bizzy Glasser Riley, Emma Jacobson-Sive,<br />

Sara Langelier—all Class of 1989; Brian Swett ’94,<br />

Ed Downes ’59, Hilary Sargent ’94, and Jenny Shoukimas ’94;<br />

Julie Henry, mother of Sarah Henry Lederman ’74 enjoyed<br />

catching up at the party in the library<br />

Opposite page (L-R): 1999 classmates Grace Faturoti,<br />

Sam Oates, and Ben Hindman; Shady Hartshorne ’74<br />

embracing a classmate at Reunion<br />

Class of 1989—20th Reunion Top (L-R): Sara Langelier, Adria<br />

Linder, Kate Westgate, Allison Morse, Ali Epker Ruch and Bizzy Glasser Riley.<br />

Bottom: Jonathan Mitchell, Emma Jacobson-Sive, Jacob Freifeld,<br />

Cate O’Connell and Jason Spingarn-Koff<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 19


Polly Hoppin ’74, Chris Randolph ’74, and Caroline<br />

Cunningham Young ’74<br />

Class of 1994—15th Reunion Hilary Sargent,<br />

Jenny Shoukimas, Brian Swett, Zach Stuart<br />

Ben Hindman ’99 enjoys a laugh<br />

Class of 1999—10th Reunion Top (L-R) Lindsey Segar, Caitlin Tierney,<br />

Liz Weyman, Cat Foley, Carrie Pierce, Jessica Freeman-Slade, Sam Oates, and<br />

David Kenner; Bottom (L-R) Alex Goldstein, Grace Faturoti, Ben Hindman,<br />

and David Cavell<br />

20 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> Class of 1984<br />

Twenty-Fifth Reunion Biographies<br />

Natascha Geilich Armleder<br />

I went to Nobles, then UVM, and upon graduation,<br />

I moved to Geneva, Switzerland (my mother<br />

is Swiss and I have a passport). All of those years<br />

of suffering under Monsieur Planchon finally<br />

paid off and I actually do speak French!<br />

After working in finance for a long time, I<br />

moved to Sotheby’s auction house where I<br />

enjoyed a saner pace of life working with collectors<br />

and dealers from all over the world. Currently,<br />

I am doing my master’s in counseling<br />

psychology. In 2003, I married Sébastien Armleder,<br />

who is from Geneva, (Laura Church<br />

Wilmerding actually made it over to the wedding<br />

despite her son’s first day of school!) and had my<br />

son, Tassilo, in 2004 and my daughter, Cosima,<br />

in 2006.<br />

We try to get to the States as often as possible<br />

(thus a recent Easter trip to Miami/Palm Beach)<br />

but sadly I don’t think I will make it back for the<br />

Reunion as I will just have returned from Florida<br />

on April 15. I have enjoyed chatting with some of<br />

you on Facebook and hope, if I do not make it,<br />

that someone will send me photos of the<br />

Reunion! I am in the Boston area every summer<br />

and would love to catch up.<br />

Sarah Kennedy Flott<br />

Can it really be 25 years! I can’t believe I am<br />

old enough to have a 25th Reunion from anything.<br />

I am currently living near Frankfurt, Germany<br />

with my husband, Jon, and three children,<br />

Thomas (13), Sophie (9), and Noah (7). <strong>The</strong><br />

three children and I all go to the International<br />

<strong>School</strong> of Frankfurt; they are students and I teach<br />

3rd to 5th grade English. We have lived overseas<br />

for a few years now both here in Germany and in<br />

Shanghai, China. We love the traveling it allows<br />

us to do and hopefully our children will become<br />

“Global Citizens.”<br />

I received my master’s degree in teaching<br />

from Lesley University in 1999 after completing<br />

three years with the Teach for America teaching<br />

corps in rural Louisiana. Unfortunately, I will be<br />

Top: Andre Netter, Tim Friedman<br />

Bottom: Hannah Swett, Robbie Sprill,<br />

Natascha Geilich, Dan Kornfeld.<br />

unable to attend the Reunion in person but look<br />

forward to reading about what my classmates<br />

have been up to.<br />

Tim Friedman<br />

Hello to everyone from Chicago! 25 is just too<br />

many years to write (or think) about so I’ll keep<br />

it to the most important recent ones! My wife,<br />

Paula, and I are living in Chicago with our nineyear-old<br />

son, Cameron, and our seven-year-old<br />

daughter, Madeline. After graduating from<br />

Lehigh in 1991, I went to George Washington<br />

Law <strong>School</strong> and worked as a lawyer long enough<br />

to realize it wasn’t for me. In 1996, shortly after<br />

Paula and I married, I dragged her out to<br />

Chicago so I could go to Northwestern University<br />

for my MBA. Although I promised her that<br />

we could come back to the East Coast, Chicago<br />

ended up being a perfect fit for us and we have<br />

been here ever since. After business school, I<br />

worked as an investment banker for 7 years and<br />

then set out on my own with my own small<br />

investment company, Heracles Holdings. I guess<br />

Greek mythology stuck with me after all these<br />

years. Our kids go to Francis <strong>Park</strong>er <strong>School</strong> in<br />

Chicago. It really reminds me of <strong>Park</strong>, and as I<br />

wander the halls at drop-off I reminisce about our<br />

years together in Brookline.<br />

Anne Collins Goodyear<br />

At the time of our twenty-fifth reunion, I am<br />

living with my husband, Frank, outside of Washington,<br />

DC. We both work at the Smithsonian’s<br />

National Portrait Gallery. (We didn’t meet there,<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 21


P A R K S C H O O L C L A S S O F 1 9 8 4 2 5 T H R E U N I O N B I O G R A P H I E S<br />

however. We met in graduate school at the University<br />

of Texas at Austin.) <strong>The</strong> past five years<br />

since our last reunion have been busy. During<br />

that period, I co-organized two substantial exhibitions<br />

with catalogues. One, “Inventing Marcel<br />

Duchamp: <strong>The</strong> Dynamics of Portraiture,”<br />

focuses on Duchamp’s important role in modern<br />

and contemporary art and his impact on the construction<br />

of self and other; the other exhibition,<br />

“Reflections/Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the<br />

Twentieth Century,” looks at the changing idioms<br />

of self-representation during the past century.<br />

<strong>The</strong>se projects and many others repeatedly<br />

cause me to think back on my years at <strong>Park</strong>.<br />

Travel to Paris to organize the Duchamp show<br />

brought back fond memories of the 1983 trip to<br />

France made by those of us in the eighth grade<br />

studying French as well as the rigorous ongoing<br />

study of the French language through our<br />

acquaintance with M. Thibaut and his family!<br />

I also think back frequently to the special trips<br />

several of us had a chance to make to the Boston<br />

Museum of Fine Arts on Tuesday afternoons<br />

once a month when we had half-days so that our<br />

teachers could pursue their professional development.<br />

What magical afternoons! I particularly<br />

recall those spent in the company of the Egyptian<br />

antiquities.<br />

It’s amazing to think how much impact those<br />

ten years at <strong>Park</strong> had and continue to have,<br />

especially twenty-five years after we received our<br />

diplomas. “<strong>The</strong>re are places I remember...”<br />

Looking forward to catching up with everyone!!<br />

Top: Cam Naimi, Noah Herzog<br />

Bottom: Phoebe Gallagher,<br />

Joshua Dalsimer, Dwight<br />

Dunne, Nancy Venator, Mary<br />

Kay Beuntan, Music Teacher.<br />

Brad Moriarty<br />

My memories of <strong>Park</strong> go from racing around at<br />

recess in grade two to foursquare in the covered<br />

back entryway past the old woodshop. Since then<br />

I’ve done a number of things, rowing competitions<br />

in school and out, working for and starting<br />

up small businesses and, finally, back to teaching.<br />

I married a woman I met in high school (she<br />

would be quick to point out we were not high<br />

school sweethearts) and watched with awe as she<br />

gave birth to our two boys, Tucker (4.5) and<br />

Silas (1). When Tucker was born we moved to<br />

Milton Academy to live and work in a girl’s<br />

dormitory. I teach physics and engineering and<br />

am part of the faculty governance committee.<br />

I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar <strong>Park</strong><br />

faces this spring.<br />

Cam Naimi<br />

<strong>The</strong> 25th Reunion Wow! It makes me think I’m<br />

getting soft, because I have been living in San<br />

Diego for almost seven years now. I have been<br />

teaching math and science to middle and high<br />

school students for eight years, undoubtedly subconsciously<br />

inspired by ten formative and happy<br />

years spent at <strong>Park</strong>. I do come “home” to Boston<br />

for the summer, which is just one of many aspects<br />

of teaching I enjoy. In fact, I ran into Alex Heard<br />

on the way to Nantucket not too long ago. It was<br />

a brief reunion as the threat of fog had him<br />

(being the seasoned Nantucket traveler) heading<br />

for the reliable ferry, while I risked the puddle<br />

jumper. Hope this message finds you all well.<br />

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make the<br />

Reunion, but I hope to run into more of you in<br />

the future.<br />

Lucy Perera Adams<br />

Some <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> Memories:<br />

• <strong>The</strong> fish wall sculpture in the dining room,<br />

and all those wonderful wooden chairs — where<br />

are they now<br />

• <strong>The</strong> fish tank in the lobby<br />

• <strong>The</strong> smell of curing concrete in the stairwells<br />

• <strong>The</strong> brushed metal door handle, purple and<br />

red doors with the safety glass<br />

• <strong>The</strong> ceilings, which looked like string, set in<br />

papier mâché<br />

• <strong>The</strong> classes: Mr. Bourne’s Latin with lights out<br />

• <strong>The</strong> wall of cut out magazine photos in the<br />

ceramics studio<br />

• <strong>The</strong> skeleton hanging in the science<br />

room—what was his/her name<br />

• See-more-show body<br />

• Loving to watch filmstrips<br />

• <strong>The</strong> closets (were they red) of costumes in<br />

drama room<br />

• <strong>The</strong> race around—and the odd end to it —with<br />

stairs that seemed to lead nowhere<br />

• <strong>The</strong> courtyard and the cooking from Asian fair<br />

—seemed to always be the older students who<br />

did that<br />

• Banjo playing and folk songs during Morning<br />

Meeting — Mr. Smith<br />

22 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


P A R K S C H O O L C L A S S O F 1 9 8 4 2 5 T H R E U N I O N B I O G R A P H I E S<br />

After graduating from Boston University in art<br />

history, I worked as an intern at <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong>,<br />

where I learned that the teachers I once had were<br />

indeed regular people. After a year interning<br />

with the delightful Ms. Fabre and Mrs. Platt, I<br />

returned to <strong>Park</strong> for my first official paid job as a<br />

Nursery <strong>School</strong> Assistant. I then went on to<br />

teach at a Montessori school in Aspen, Colorado.<br />

Two years followed in Providence, while my<br />

husband, whom I met in Colorado, completed<br />

his master’s at RISD. <strong>The</strong>n on to my own<br />

graduate study in art history in Denver followed<br />

by a move to Taos, N.M., where I work as curator<br />

of education and public relations at a small<br />

university art museum. I have been at the Harwood<br />

Museum of Art for 11 years, and during<br />

this time had two wonderful children, Maia<br />

(2001) and Skyler (2007), names I pinched from<br />

students I taught while at <strong>Park</strong>. In addition to<br />

my human family, I have a horse, three dogs,<br />

two cats, and enjoy returning to Boston and<br />

Cape Cod twice a year to visit family, see how<br />

fancy Boston has become, and stock up on shoes<br />

and clothing from a place other than Wal-Mart<br />

or Target.<br />

Hannah Swett<br />

I am living in New York City with my husband,<br />

Mark Brookes. We are expecting a child in July.<br />

I am working in the family real estate business.<br />

We own and operate mostly commercial and<br />

industrial space in Harlem and South Bronx with<br />

some residential in Manhattan.<br />

After leaving <strong>Park</strong>, I went on to graduate<br />

from St. George’s <strong>School</strong> and Brown University.<br />

After leaving Brown, I spent the majority of my<br />

time competitive sailing around the world. Most<br />

notably, I sailed the 1995 America’s Cup with<br />

the Women’s Team and launched two Olympic<br />

campaigns. Mark and I are based in NYC, but<br />

spend as much time skiing in Jackson, Wyoming,<br />

and biking in Jamestown, Rhode Island, as<br />

possible!<br />

Elena Wethers Thompson<br />

Hello to all my <strong>Park</strong> classmates. I hope everyone<br />

is doing well and is happy. I left <strong>Park</strong> at the<br />

end of 8th grade and went to Winsor for high<br />

school —along with a bunch of other former<br />

<strong>Park</strong>ites —Kate Sullivan, Margie O’Brien, Nancy<br />

Venator. After Winsor, I went to Wesleyan University<br />

and majored in English. After graduation<br />

I worked at the Boston Foundation but ultimately<br />

went back to work at Wesleyan in Alumni<br />

Relations, which is what I have been doing professionally<br />

ever since 1992. I moved back to<br />

Boston in 1998 and met my husband. He moved<br />

up from Baltimore, and we married in October<br />

2001. We have two beautiful, fun, and challenging<br />

children, Tessa (4) and Ellis (2). We picked up<br />

and moved back to Baltimore, my husband’s<br />

hometown, in 2007 and are living just outside of<br />

the city in a suburb called Owings Mills. My husband<br />

is a teacher and director of service learning<br />

for the Gilman <strong>School</strong> and I am the director of<br />

alumni relations for the Johns Hopkins Carey<br />

Business <strong>School</strong>. Life is full and busy. Baltimore<br />

has been a big adjustment from Boston but<br />

slowly I am settling in, but I still miss Boston and<br />

Brookline!<br />

I have been lucky to keep in touch with quite<br />

a few old friends from <strong>Park</strong> (I see and talk to Alicia<br />

Lancaster Silva and Jessica Pearlman most,<br />

but also have stayed in touch with Kate Sullivan,<br />

Nancy Venator, Margie O’Brien and Caron Lipsky<br />

Savenor) and to have served on the Board at<br />

Wesleyan and the Alumnae Board at Winsor,<br />

which helps me stay connected to my former<br />

New England life. Maybe it’s my professional life<br />

seeping into my personal life, but I would LOVE<br />

to see so many of you in person this spring! We<br />

all spent so much time together and it has been<br />

far too long since most of us have seen each<br />

other or connected. It would be great to meet<br />

your significant others and families too. I hope to<br />

see many of you at our upcoming reunion. If not,<br />

we’ve started a <strong>Park</strong> Class of 1984 group on<br />

Facebook – it would be great to have others join<br />

and reconnect virtually.<br />

Laura Church Wilmerding<br />

After graduating from <strong>Park</strong> in 1984, I attended<br />

Pomfret <strong>School</strong> and St. Lawrence University. I<br />

continued to play field hockey, ice hockey,<br />

lacrosse, and majored in French and art history.<br />

I spent my junior year in Paris, where I lived<br />

with an incredible French family. <strong>The</strong>y had three<br />

children close to me in age, which made it especially<br />

fun and good for my French. Studying art<br />

history in Paris was a memorable experience. I<br />

fell in love with city living in Paris. It gave me a<br />

strong sense of independence.<br />

After college, I moved to New York City and<br />

worked in the decorating department of House<br />

Beautiful and Country Living magazines. While at<br />

House Beautiful, I developed an appreciation for<br />

modern decorating and architecture. For eight<br />

years, I loved living in New York, a wonderfully<br />

diverse city rich in history and culture.<br />

In 1996, I met my husband, Michael<br />

Wilmerding. We married in 1999 and have two<br />

wonderful children, Ben (8) and Sophie (6), both<br />

of whom are at <strong>Park</strong>. It has been so much fun to<br />

relive the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> experience through their<br />

eyes. We live in Chestnut Hill on the street where<br />

my husband grew up. Michael is the owner of<br />

Firefly Outfitters, a fly-fishing shop in downtown<br />

Boston. Michael sells outdoor clothing, fly-fishing<br />

equipment, and guides trips in Boston Harbor<br />

and other destinations.<br />

It has been 25 years since I graduated from<br />

<strong>Park</strong>! My <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> memories include: making<br />

a map of Africa out of oatmeal cookie dough and<br />

decorating it with chocolate kisses for a social<br />

studies project; passing notes and spending too<br />

much time in the bathroom talking to friends in<br />

7th grade; learning and loving the French language;<br />

Mr. and Mme. Thibault; gymnastics<br />

with Ms. Zifcak and participating in lots of sports<br />

with Ms. Knight; Wordly Wise; Snack time being<br />

held in the dining room with tons of Ritz crackers<br />

spread out on the table for all; playing the<br />

recorder in Morning Meeting; assigned seating<br />

in the classroom by last name; Mr. Bourne and<br />

Project R.E.A.S.O.N. in the rain; playing Fessenden<br />

in ice hockey; lots of friends and supportive<br />

teachers for 11 years! <strong>The</strong> friendships and<br />

memories will last a lifetime.<br />

Phoebe Gallagher Winder<br />

A lot has happened in 25 years! After leaving<br />

<strong>Park</strong> in the 8th grade, I went to Exeter, Vanderbilt,<br />

then on to University of Michigan Law<br />

<strong>School</strong>. So for about 11 years or so, I didn’t<br />

spend a lot of time in Boston, and I lost touch<br />

with many of my <strong>Park</strong> friends. In 1994, I finally<br />

moved back to Boston to work at the law firm of<br />

K&L Gates, where I’ve been for 15 years. I’m a<br />

partner there, and I practice in the area of financial<br />

services litigation, which, as you can imagine<br />

in this day and age, keeps me really busy.<br />

On the home front, I got married to Caleb<br />

Winder six years ago. (He went to BB&N, and he<br />

gets slightly miffed when I tell him <strong>Park</strong> is far<br />

superior to BB&N). He works in venture capital<br />

in the health sciences and medical area. We live<br />

in Jamaica Plain – our house abuts Hellenic College,<br />

near Jamaica Pond, so we live pretty close to<br />

<strong>Park</strong>. We have two children, Avery (age 2.5) and<br />

Charlie (9 months). Having two kids under the<br />

age of three and working full time means our<br />

lives are pretty insane at the moment, but we’re<br />

really fortunate to have all of our parents living<br />

close by to lend a hand.<br />

I’m looking forward to our 25th Reunion.<br />

Since most of us spent many years at <strong>Park</strong>, I feel<br />

we got to know each other’s strengths and foibles<br />

so well. Perhaps no one knows you as well as<br />

your 6th grade classmate It will be great to<br />

see where everyone’s landed, and how their lives<br />

are going.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 23


Summer reading.<br />

For me, the words conjure up<br />

images of relaxing in a hammock<br />

with a thick book and a glass of<br />

iced tea. Or, maybe sitting in a<br />

beach chair with my toes in the<br />

sand. It’s summer and the reading<br />

is easy.<br />

In this issue, we look at what<br />

people are reading at <strong>Park</strong> in the<br />

summer of 2009. What do students<br />

read over summer vacation And<br />

what about their teachers We<br />

even hear from an English teacher<br />

who tackled War and Peace for<br />

graduate school.<br />

Perhaps you’ll tuck away some<br />

of these titles for next summer—<br />

or perhaps you’ll find some time<br />

In our modern era of 24/7 technology, Twitter<br />

blasts, Facebook, instant messaging, Xbox<br />

360, and all the rest, sitting down with a good<br />

book may seem archaic and passé. Yet, <strong>Park</strong> is<br />

charged with teaching students about the English<br />

language, celebrating learning, and—possibly—<br />

inculcating a love of reading.<br />

<strong>Park</strong> students are expected to read over the<br />

summer, even though kids’ summer lives have<br />

changed over the decades. “<strong>The</strong>y don’t have as<br />

much free time now,” clarifies English<br />

Department Chair Kathy Coen. “It seems that, as<br />

a whole, kids aren’t that comfortable with<br />

reading—they see it as a chore. With camps and<br />

sports and other sorts of commitments, parents<br />

started complaining about how much time<br />

summer reading was taking. So, we’ve made<br />

some accommodations.” Instead of requiring<br />

students to complete scores of books each<br />

summer, the English Department, working closely<br />

with the <strong>School</strong>’s librarians, have compiled<br />

annotated lists of books that are sorted by genre<br />

and grade level. Students must read two books,<br />

and are encouraged to read more.<br />

Summer reading provides a wonderful<br />

opportunity to have a common conversation in<br />

the first week of school. <strong>The</strong> assignments are<br />

designed to be a fun way to talk—and get the<br />

kids talking—about reading. “It’s a good way for<br />

us to assess the students,” Kathy says. “Did they<br />

read the book Did they get it” <strong>The</strong> discussions<br />

and activities analyze the material in ways that<br />

are appropriate for each grade level.<br />

this fall. . . .<br />

Kate LaPine<br />

editor<br />

24 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

GRADE VI: BOOK COVERS<br />

Juliet Baker, a legendary English teacher at <strong>Park</strong>, initiated this project<br />

nearly 20 years ago for all students in Grades VI – IX. In time, the<br />

project has evolved into an exclusively sixth grade undertaking. “This<br />

assignment is developmentally appropriate for the newest students<br />

in the Upper Division,” explains Alice Perera Lucey ’77, who has<br />

taught English and social studies to sixth graders for many years.<br />

(This year she assumes a new role as Head of the Upper Division.)<br />

Without requiring deep analysis of passages, students create beautiful<br />

and compelling covers of their favorite summer reads, which are<br />

displayed in the halls.<br />

BOOK COVER ASSIGNMENT:<br />

1. choose one book to promote<br />

2. brainstorm reasons why you enjoyed reading it<br />

3. write a well-organized paragraph that gives potential readers<br />

a general overview and entices them to read the book<br />

4. select a compelling quote from your book; cite page number<br />

5. compose 3 “blurbs” from invented reviewers<br />

6. design your book cover following template provided<br />

Because the Grade VI curriculum exposes students to a variety of<br />

literary genres and styles, rising sixth graders are given no restrictions<br />

in choosing books for summer reading, as their resulting book covers<br />

demonstrate.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 25


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

GRADE VII: CLUE<br />

In anticipation of studying Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s <strong>The</strong> Hound of<br />

the Baskervilles and selections from Edgar Allan Poe in class, rising<br />

seventh graders are required to read a mystery over the summer.<br />

<strong>The</strong> sixth grade English teachers invite librarian Dorothea Black to<br />

review the 35 mystery and suspense titles on the summer reading<br />

list. “I have to remind them that not all mysteries are bloody,”<br />

Dorothea explains. “That is a relief for some kids!”<br />

On the first day of class in the fall, seventh graders receive this<br />

assignment:<br />

Your homework tonight requires that you dust off your<br />

MYSTERY book you read over the summer. Take some time<br />

to flip through and remind yourself of the (following) details.<br />

Write the information in note form.<br />

Check your spelling!<br />

Title, Author, Sleuth, Who Done It, Crime Scene,<br />

Significant Object<br />

Kyra Fries, who helped design this assignment, explains, “We wanted<br />

to get students thinking about all the elements of a mystery story, and<br />

who doesn’t like playing Clue” On the second day, students create<br />

six clue cards about their mysteries with these instructions:<br />

• Make them colorful and bold<br />

• Spell correctly<br />

• Make sure it’s legible<br />

• Do NOT write your name on it<br />

• Make each one significantly different—in other words,<br />

it should not look like it belongs with the others. Change<br />

colors, handwriting, etc… try to be mysterious! Add designs<br />

if you want!<br />

What’s different about reading in the summer<br />

is that I am constantly outdoors playing sports,<br />

so I don’t read during the day.<br />

Whenever I get a chance to read before bed, I do,<br />

and since it’s summer, I can stay up late and read.<br />

—Oliver Kendall (Grade VII)<br />

R E A D I N G L I S T S<br />

GRADE VI<br />

<strong>The</strong> lists on the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

library website<br />

(www.parkschool.org/library)<br />

—far too long to reprint<br />

here —allow students and<br />

their parents to browse titles<br />

appropriate for grade levels<br />

V–IX. <strong>The</strong> comprehensive<br />

booklists, which suggest<br />

hundreds of titles, are created<br />

with different kinds of<br />

readers in mind. A few<br />

samples, based on the genre<br />

required by grade, follow:<br />

Summer Reading Choices:<br />

Any book from this list and one<br />

book from any source (including<br />

this list, which features popular<br />

favorites, classics, and books that<br />

will enliven and extend your school<br />

studies. (Grade levels are suggestions,<br />

not limits).<br />

Crispin: <strong>The</strong> Cross of Lead<br />

by Avi (Historical Fiction)<br />

For Grades V and VI<br />

In this adventure story set in the<br />

Middle Ages, an orphaned boy flees<br />

his tiny village when he is accused of<br />

a crime he didn’t commit. As he is<br />

leaving, he discovers his real name<br />

and some mysterious information<br />

about his parents.<br />

George Washington, Spymaster<br />

by Thomas B. Allen (Non-Fiction)<br />

For Grades V and VI<br />

George Washington was the secret<br />

spymaster of the Revolutionary War<br />

and delighted in espionage tricks such<br />

as planting false information for the<br />

enemy to discover. Read about spies,<br />

counter spies, double agents, codes<br />

and ciphers, and other tools and tricks<br />

of the trade.<br />

Helen’s Eyes: A Photobiography<br />

of Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller’s<br />

Teacher by Marfe Ferguson Delano<br />

(Autobiography/Biography)<br />

For Grades V, VI, and VII<br />

Annie Sullivan’s early life gave no<br />

indication that she would become<br />

famous. She was wild tempered and<br />

almost blind. Her father abandoned<br />

her when her mother died, and she<br />

spent much of her childhood in a grim<br />

institute for the poor. Determined to<br />

get an education, she eventually found<br />

a place at the prestigious Perkins<br />

Institute. At the age of twenty, she<br />

took on the almost impossible<br />

challenge of teaching Helen Keller,<br />

then six years old.<br />

Into the Volcano by Don Wood<br />

(Graphic Novel)<br />

For Grades VI, VII, VIII, and IX<br />

Two brothers travel to the island of<br />

Kocalaha to visit family and end up on<br />

a harrowing adventure inside an<br />

erupting volcano.<br />

Last Shot by John Feinstein<br />

(Mystery/Suspense)<br />

For Grades VI, VII, and VIII<br />

Aspiring journalists Steven and Carol<br />

discover a conspiracy to “fix” the last<br />

game of the NCAA Final Four men’s<br />

basketball tournament.<br />

26 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

Reading in the summer is great because<br />

it’s more of your own choice. You can pick up<br />

any old book and if you don’t like it<br />

you don’t have to finish it.<br />

I can’t read as much during the school year<br />

because of sports and homework.<br />

—Matt Johnson (Grade VIII)<br />

Five girls in my class started a<br />

book group last year. Its fun to discuss books<br />

with your friends, but we don’t do it<br />

over the summer.<br />

—Catherine Hemp (Grade VIII)<br />

GRADE VIII: SHORT ESSAY<br />

As students mature, their summer reading assignments become<br />

increasingly difficult. Knowing that they will begin the year reading<br />

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, <strong>Park</strong>’s newest eighth graders<br />

are required to read a historical novel over the summer. Upon their<br />

return to school, they must write a short essay for homework in<br />

the first week.<br />

Over the summer, each of you read a novel, which can be<br />

categorized as HISTORICAL FICTION. Tonight, write a<br />

paragraph in which you explain WHY your book qualifies<br />

as a piece of historical fiction. First you need to define<br />

historical fiction for yourself and your reader and then<br />

explain with examples from the text why your book falls<br />

under that category. Be sure to:<br />

• Grab the reader with your first sentence<br />

• Have a clear, compelling topic sentence<br />

• Cite the title and author of the book you read<br />

• Give three or four specific examples from your book<br />

• Conclude your paragraph in a thoughtful manner<br />

This is NOT a standard book report; take care not to oversummarize.<br />

This can be hand-written or typed. Be sure to<br />

closely proofread for correct spelling, punctuation, diction,<br />

and syntax.<br />

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup<br />

by Ron Koertge (Poetry)<br />

For Grades VI, VII, and VIII<br />

Prevented by a case of mononucleosis<br />

from pursuing his passion, baseball,<br />

Kevin reluctantly starts a poetry<br />

journal with the encouragement of his<br />

father, who is an English teacher. In<br />

free verse, with occasional excursions<br />

into haiku, sonnet, and ballad form,<br />

he writes about family, school, girls,<br />

and, of course, baseball.<br />

GRADE VII<br />

Summer Reading Choices:<br />

One mystery from this list and<br />

one book from any source<br />

(including this list, which features<br />

popular favorites, classics, and<br />

books that will enliven and extend<br />

your school studies).<br />

A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman<br />

(Mystery/Suspense)<br />

For Grades VIII and IX<br />

Navajo Tribal Policemen Lt. Joe<br />

Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee solve<br />

the mystery surrounding murders<br />

at an ancient Indian burial site.<br />

Beautiful, valuable Anasazi clay pots<br />

are among the few clues.<br />

Behind the Curtain by Peter<br />

Abrahams (Mystery/Suspense)<br />

For Grades VI and VII<br />

Eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill, who<br />

has practically memorized all the<br />

Sherlock Holmes stories, uses observation<br />

and logic to solve crime cases<br />

in her hometown of Echo Falls. In this<br />

page-turning adventure, she discovers<br />

a steroid selling ring, but can’t tell<br />

the police because her brother might<br />

be involved.<br />

Half-Moon Investigations by<br />

Eoin Colfer (Mystery/Suspense)<br />

For Grades V, VI, and VII<br />

Fletcher Moon, after he earns a real<br />

detective’s badge from an Internet<br />

course, is passionate about solving<br />

criminal cases. When the head of a<br />

girl’s clique hires him to investigate a<br />

theft at school, he finds himself far too<br />

involved in the business of the town’s<br />

notorious crime family.<br />

<strong>The</strong> London Eye Mystery by<br />

Siobhan Dowd (Mystery/Suspense)<br />

For Grades VI, VII, VIII, and IX<br />

Two siblings take their visiting cousin<br />

sightseeing to the London Eye. <strong>The</strong>y<br />

watch him go into the ride, and they<br />

watch all the passengers leave, but<br />

their cousin has disappeared.<br />

Montmorency by Eleanor Updale<br />

(Mystery/Suspense)<br />

For Grades VI and VII<br />

Montmorency is a small time thief<br />

until he discovers the possibilities of<br />

London’s new underground sewer<br />

system. He develops a split identity:<br />

Scarper, the virtuoso thief who<br />

escapes crime scenes through the<br />

sewers; and Montmorency, a gentleman<br />

with fine taste and a betterdeveloped<br />

sense of honor. This is the<br />

first of four books in a popular<br />

mystery/spy series.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 27


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

GRADE IX: PASSAGE ANALYSIS<br />

Reading requirements for ninth graders<br />

are more traditional and are designed<br />

to push adolescents into adult literature.<br />

In the summer before their<br />

ninth grade year, every student reads<br />

<strong>The</strong> Book Thief by Markus Zusak,<br />

and Latin students read Virgil’s<br />

Aeneid (in translation!), which is<br />

supplied for them by Latin teacher<br />

Greg Grote.<br />

In addition to tying into the<br />

ninth grade English curriculum,<br />

which examines the style and<br />

structure of the memoir, <strong>The</strong><br />

Book Thief, a multi-award winning book that is<br />

set in Nazi Germany and narrated by Death, also has direct links to<br />

the social studies curriculum. <strong>The</strong> ninth grade course, which is based on<br />

the materials and methods of Facing History and Ourselves, uses the rise<br />

of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as a springboard to confront the<br />

origins and persistence of anti-democratic ideas and events in Europe.<br />

For their first assignment in the fall, ninth graders are asked to write a<br />

passage analysis about <strong>The</strong> Book Thief.<br />

A “passage analysis” is a paragraph that focuses on a passage<br />

extrapolated from a text. It is a close examination! <strong>The</strong> passage<br />

usually has a good deal of importance when looked at on its<br />

own and can shed light on the text as a whole, as well.<br />

Some tips:<br />

1. Convey immediately why you chose your passage and make<br />

this a creative and energetic sentence.<br />

2. Use compelling phrases and words right from the passage in<br />

your paragraph.<br />

3. Type out your passage and them skip some lines and write<br />

your analysis. This way you can keep looking at it closely as<br />

you write!<br />

4. Think of this as a paragraph that digs down deep and presents<br />

this passage under a microscope. You are the expert!<br />

I find reading in the summer much easier than during the school year.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is a lot more free time to sit down in the sun and read in the summer because there is<br />

much less work and pressure. Summer is a great opportunity to read some amazing books.<br />

—Emily Hoyt (Grade IX)<br />

R E A D I N G L I S T S (continued)<br />

GRADE VIII<br />

Summer Reading Choices:<br />

One historical novel from this list<br />

and one book from any source<br />

(including this list, which features<br />

popular favorites, classics, and<br />

books that will enliven and extend<br />

your school studies.)<br />

A Northern Light by Jennifer<br />

Donnelly (Historical Fiction)<br />

For Grades VIII and IX<br />

Mattie has a talent for writing and has<br />

won a scholarship to Barnard, but her<br />

ambition conflicts with loyalty to<br />

family and courtship with the boy next<br />

door. Mattie’s African-American friend,<br />

Weaver, has similar ambitions and<br />

faces different challenges. <strong>The</strong>ir story<br />

is interwoven with a celebrated<br />

murder case of 1906.<br />

Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary<br />

Sutcliffe (Historical Fiction)<br />

For Grades VII, VIII, and IX<br />

Roman Centurion Marcus Flavius<br />

Aquila tries to solve the mystery of the<br />

disappearance in Britain of his father<br />

and the Ninth Legion Hispana, last<br />

heard from near Hadrian’s Wall. Aquila<br />

also hopes to locate the Ninth Legion’s<br />

military standard, the missing Eagle,<br />

and return it safely to Rome.<br />

My Mother the Cheerleader by<br />

Robert Sharenow (Historical Fiction)<br />

For Grades VIII and IX<br />

Every morning Louise’s mother<br />

dresses up and goes to stand with a<br />

group of neighborhood women known<br />

as the Cheerleaders, who taunt sixyear<br />

old Ruby Bridges as she enters<br />

the elementary school. Louise never<br />

questions the situation in the Ninth<br />

Ward of New Orleans until a likable<br />

New Yorker with radical views<br />

becomes a boarder in their house.<br />

Revolution is Not a Dinner Party<br />

by Ying Chang Compestine (Historical<br />

Fiction)<br />

For Grades VI, VII, and VIII<br />

Ling, the only daughter of two<br />

doctors, leads a happy and<br />

comfortable life in the city of Wuhan<br />

until the beginning of the Cultural<br />

Revolution in 1972. <strong>The</strong> family is<br />

forced to share their apartment with<br />

an official of the Communist Party,<br />

food and supplies become scarce, and<br />

worse hardships follow.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Snows by Sharelle Byars<br />

Moranville (Historical Fiction)<br />

For Grades VII, VIII, and IX<br />

In each of these four interwoven<br />

stories, a member of the Snow family<br />

of Jefferson, Iowa, makes a pivotal<br />

decision at the age of sixteen. <strong>The</strong><br />

events take place over four<br />

generations, spanning the Great<br />

Depression, the World War II and<br />

Vietnam War eras, and a time close<br />

to the present.<br />

28 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

<strong>The</strong> Informed Teacher<br />

Reading List 2008–09<br />

<strong>The</strong> White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga<br />

<strong>The</strong> Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing,<br />

Traitor to the Nation. Volume II: <strong>The</strong> Kingdom<br />

on the Waves by M. T. Anderson<br />

A Universal History of the Destruction of Books:<br />

from Ancient Sumer to Modern Iraq by Fernando<br />

Báez<br />

What It Is by Lynda Barry<br />

2666 by Roberto Bolaño<br />

<strong>The</strong> Year We Disappeared: a Father-Daughter<br />

Memoir by Cylin Busby<br />

<strong>The</strong> Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair<br />

with our Favorite Treats by Joanne Chen<br />

<strong>The</strong> Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins<br />

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the<br />

American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust<br />

<strong>The</strong> Forever War by Dexter Filkins<br />

<strong>The</strong> Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham<br />

and Mary by Candace Fleming<br />

Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with<br />

Teach for America by Donna Foote<br />

In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary<br />

African Americans Reclaimed <strong>The</strong>ir Past by<br />

Henry Louis Gates<br />

<strong>The</strong> Hemingses of Monticello: An American<br />

Family by Annette Gordon-Reed<br />

<strong>The</strong> Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession<br />

n the Amazon by David Grann<br />

Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the<br />

Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris<br />

<strong>The</strong> United States Constitution: A Graphic<br />

Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey<br />

<strong>The</strong> Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher<br />

<strong>The</strong> Thief at the End of the World: Rubber,<br />

Power, and the Seeds of Empire by Joe Jackson<br />

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri<br />

<strong>The</strong> Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen<br />

<strong>The</strong> Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson<br />

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer<br />

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White<br />

House by Jon Meacham<br />

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer<br />

A Mercy by Toni Morrison<br />

<strong>The</strong> Life of the Skies by Jonathan Rosen<br />

Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His<br />

Son’s Addiction by David Sheff<br />

American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld<br />

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout<br />

Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson<br />

by Tricia Tunstall<br />

Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf<br />

Parents, and the Language of Love by Myron<br />

Uhlberg<br />

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And<br />

What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt<br />

How Fiction Works by James Wood<br />

<strong>The</strong> Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David<br />

Wroblewski<br />

Teachers’ Summer Reading<br />

“W<br />

hat do you read” That’s what Christian Porter’s colleague, Alison<br />

Webster (English and social studies 2001–2006) asked a few years<br />

ago. Christian and the other librarians were busily preparing summer<br />

reading lists for students when Alison planted the seed about adult reading. She<br />

said, “Christian, you should read for you,” he explained. “I started thinking about<br />

what all the teachers would like to read.”<br />

As a librarian, Christian has to read what’s just been published, what’s<br />

getting a lot of buzz, and know what’s on the back list in order to put the new<br />

books into context. In November, the National Book Award winners are<br />

announced, along with the Pulitzer, and the Booker Prize. “I tracked every single<br />

list I could find,” Christian says. <strong>The</strong> same books would keep coming up—<br />

appearing on multiple lists —and Christian began narrowing them down. “Every<br />

year,” he says, “there are about 50-75 books that are being talked about. I know<br />

that <strong>Park</strong>’s library can’t purchase that many, so I try to pick the best in poetry,<br />

biography, fiction, and non-fiction for our collection.” His selections are based<br />

on the titles that make multiple lists as well as ones that relate to the<br />

curriculum. “I know second graders study Colonial America, so we ordered this<br />

fabulous graphic adaptation of the Constitution.”<br />

Before the faculty left for the summer, the library hosted its third annual<br />

“Informed Teacher” event. This year, Christian put together a slide show that<br />

featured a variety of the 36 titles chosen for 2008–09. After scanning book<br />

covers, Christian asked a few colleagues to help with the presentation. Alison<br />

Connolly, who worked with deaf students before teaching math at <strong>Park</strong>, read<br />

and signed an excerpt from Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf<br />

Parents, and the Language of Love by Myron Uhlberg. Likewise, Brian Cassie,<br />

who now teaches science to students in Grades I-III, has led dozens of Audubon<br />

trips to far flung places in search of birds. He was the perfect pick to read from<br />

<strong>The</strong> Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.<br />

“Now, people come to me during the year with recommendations,”<br />

Christian says. “<strong>The</strong>y look forward to the presentation— I’m so glad that I’ve<br />

been able to do something for my colleagues. I know this is a tradition that can<br />

go on without me.”<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 29


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

Christian Porter’s Bookshelf<br />

(Librarian, 2002– )<br />

50 picture books<br />

5 young adult chapter books<br />

1 adult novel<br />

I’M A HUGE FAN of Stephen McCauley (Alternatives<br />

to Sex), and Elinor Lipman was mentioned in several of<br />

his reviews. So this summer I’ve read <strong>The</strong> Family Man<br />

and <strong>The</strong> Inn at Lake Devine.<br />

Steve Kellogg’ Bookshelf<br />

(Math, 1983– )<br />

I’VE ALWAYS LOVED to read and I look at summer as<br />

my chance. When I’m not traveling, tutoring, or watching<br />

the Red Sox, I’m out on my screened porch with a book.<br />

Emily* and I have been in a book group for 22 years.<br />

I get told what to read. <strong>The</strong> last choice for the group<br />

was a book of short stories, Oblivion, by David Foster<br />

Wallace (who committed suicide this year). That led me to<br />

read another book of his: Everything and More:<br />

A Compact History of Infinity. This is a really complex,<br />

really hard math book. I have to intersperse it with<br />

others. It’s part of a series of nonfiction books written by<br />

non-scientists called Great Discoveries. Another book<br />

in the series is Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and<br />

<strong>The</strong> Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by William T.<br />

Vollmann, in which the author explains Copernicus’ great<br />

work with some tangents about Ptolemy and others.<br />

Other books on Steve’s bookshelf<br />

<strong>The</strong> Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich<br />

<strong>The</strong> Master Butchers Singing Club by<br />

Louise Erdrich<br />

<strong>The</strong> Color of Lightning by<br />

Paulette Giles<br />

Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock<br />

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill<br />

<strong>The</strong> Book Thief by Markus Zusak<br />

* Emily Kellogg, Steve’s wife, is also a<br />

librarian at <strong>Park</strong>.<br />

W<br />

ho’s ever judged a book by<br />

its cover Really, the question<br />

is, who hasn’t Dan Eberle, a<br />

29-year-old English teacher holds<br />

up a dog-eared copy of <strong>The</strong> Dark<br />

is Rising. He stands on the stage<br />

of the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> theater and<br />

addresses 250 students in Grades<br />

V-IX at a Morning Meeting in May.<br />

“I noticed this book on my mom’s<br />

bookshelf,” he says, pointing out<br />

a drawing with dark, creepy eyes.<br />

“Do you dare read it”<br />

Susan’s Cooper’s classic <strong>The</strong><br />

Dark is Rising is one of five books<br />

chosen for the 2009 Community<br />

Read. <strong>The</strong> titles are compiled, not<br />

by the English Department, but by<br />

an ad hoc committee that includes<br />

English teachers, librarians, and<br />

math teachers, among others. “It’s<br />

a heated debate each spring,”<br />

admits Alice Perera Lucey ’77.<br />

“We argue about what is classic<br />

and what is dated. <strong>The</strong> books<br />

have to be appropriate for sixth<br />

through ninth graders in terms of<br />

language and content.” <strong>The</strong> committee<br />

tries to choose books that<br />

students wouldn’t read on their<br />

own. This year’s final list includes<br />

fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction,<br />

and poetry.<br />

In the spring, different teachers<br />

present each book at Morning<br />

Meeting. “I love the idea of giving<br />

five choices to the kids and making<br />

them pick one,” says Steve<br />

Kellogg, who presented <strong>The</strong><br />

Wednesday Wars, a novel by Gary<br />

D. Schmidt about a seventh grade<br />

boy reading Shakespeare in the<br />

Vietnam era. “It says a lot that the<br />

<strong>School</strong> buys these books for everyone—it<br />

shows we really value<br />

reading as a community.”<br />

On the first Friday afternoon in<br />

September, every student in the<br />

Upper Division gathers to discuss<br />

the book he or she has chosen.<br />

<strong>The</strong> groups that span ages 11–15<br />

30 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

Alice Perera Lucey ’77’s Bookshelf<br />

(Upper Division Head, 1984– )<br />

BASICALLY, I LOVE TO READ. If I weren’t a teacher,<br />

I’d want to work in a bookstore – preferably a children’s<br />

bookstore. Here’s what I love about summer reading:<br />

Getting up early and reading when no one else is awake;<br />

Reading at the beach (later my book smells of sunscreen<br />

and has sand between the pages); Being able to read in<br />

the evening when during the school year I’d be correcting<br />

papers; Having the time to think about something I might<br />

not have thought about before as I journey along with a<br />

character; Having the time to marvel at good writing and<br />

to wonder how on earth the author thought of “that”! I<br />

treasure the time I get to read.<br />

Some adult books in no particular order:<br />

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout<br />

<strong>The</strong> Guernesy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society<br />

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows<br />

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese<br />

Beginner’s Greek by James Collins<br />

<strong>The</strong> Color of Lightning by Paulette Giles<br />

<strong>The</strong> Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich<br />

<strong>The</strong> Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver<br />

<strong>The</strong> White Tiger by Aravind Adiga<br />

<strong>The</strong> Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David<br />

Wroblewski<br />

Alice’s favorite books for kids from the summer:<br />

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin<br />

Folk tale/adventure story of a girl in China on a journey<br />

to find the place where the moon lives. BEAUTIFUL<br />

color illustrations.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly<br />

Story of a girl in Texas in the late 1800’s who spends a<br />

summer learning about Charles Darwin’s Origin of<br />

Species (and more!) with her eccentric science-loving<br />

grandfather.<br />

are organized around the titles:<br />

in addition to the books by<br />

Cooper and Schmidt, students can<br />

choose Dairy Queen by Catherine<br />

Murdock (a 16-year-old farm girl<br />

trains for football), Diamond Willow<br />

by Helen Frost (poetic story of<br />

an Alaskan girl and her sled dog),<br />

or Escape!: <strong>The</strong> Story of <strong>The</strong><br />

Great Houdini by Sid Fleischman<br />

(biography).<br />

As its name suggests, the afternoon<br />

is intended to serve as a<br />

community building exercise,<br />

helping to “break the ice” and get<br />

students back into the swing of<br />

things at school. “<strong>The</strong>y’re also<br />

learning a great life skill,” says<br />

English Department Chair Kathy<br />

Coen, “Learning to talk about a<br />

book intelligently.” Students benefit<br />

from meeting in groups; the<br />

incoming sixth<br />

graders love to be<br />

with the older students,<br />

she says. “We<br />

suggest that everyone<br />

have a question to raise<br />

or an inspiring passage to<br />

discuss. <strong>The</strong> moderator (a<br />

teacher) ensures that everyone<br />

gets a turn, and the<br />

cookies and lemonade really<br />

help, as well.”<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 31


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

Kathy Coen’s Bookshelf<br />

(English, 1986– )<br />

1. <strong>The</strong> Art of Racing in the<br />

Rain by Garth Stein<br />

This is my number-one pick<br />

for the beauty and artfulness<br />

of the narrator —a<br />

dog! I have not, for many<br />

years, read such a compelling<br />

novel in terms of<br />

the narrator. Stein took<br />

his opportunity with<br />

“Enzo,” a loyal lab, and<br />

gave us an amazing<br />

perspective on human<br />

behavior as well as<br />

the inner workings of<br />

a dog’s mind and wisdom. Enzo’s<br />

thoughts are so simple that they are complex and close<br />

to a real philosophy of life—and the synergy when<br />

Enzo and his master understand each other produces<br />

remarkable literary moments.<br />

2. Autobiography of a Wardrobe by Elizabeth Kendall<br />

Here too, another unbelievable idea for a narrator—a<br />

wardrobe! Kendall uses this narrator to look back upon<br />

herself and it is a wonderful writer’s exercise! This<br />

book took me back all the way to my first memory of a<br />

lavender robe when I was seven and my favorite onepiece<br />

bathing suit with a rose on it when I was<br />

five...even my purple suede ankle boots in college, or<br />

my trusty Doc Martens when I was in my 30’s. This is a<br />

memoir that highlights the way we find ourselves,<br />

define ourselves, and even lose ourselves through specific<br />

items of clothing. Kendall unravels a memoir of<br />

her life through short chapters highlighting these memories.<br />

A skilled writer and a fabulous way to look at<br />

one’s own “clothesline” and remember. . . .<br />

3. <strong>The</strong> White Tiger by Aravind Adiga<br />

I loved this novel because of its guts and courage and<br />

because—yes—the narrator could barely contain<br />

himself and stay on the page! <strong>The</strong> inner workings of his<br />

mind and the sensory-rich mine of his language make<br />

for an unbelievable psychological and physical journey.<br />

Mired in the often putrid “darkness,” the underbelly of<br />

India, our narrator writes about his rise to the top—<br />

from chauffeur to entrepreneur, and about an act of<br />

murder that allowed him a moment of freedom and<br />

turned his life right-side-up. A novel of ironic perspectives<br />

and choices. Reminds me of the narrator in Dostoevsky’s<br />

Crime and Punishment.<br />

4. <strong>The</strong> Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin<br />

This collection, named after the brightest star in the<br />

sky, also called the dog star, was published in April<br />

of 2009 and won the Pulitzer Prize. Merwin is a master<br />

of brevity and a zen-like compression of language. I<br />

have followed him for my adult life and he is one of<br />

my free verse role models. He is in his 80’s, he is sage,<br />

and we should listen to him. In keeping with an emerging<br />

theme this summer, he has a section of poems<br />

dedicated to his many dogs that have died, and they<br />

are the most lyrical and beautiful love poems I have<br />

read in decades.<br />

5. Ballistics by Billy Collins<br />

I guess I just love Collins for not only his readability,<br />

but for the way he eases you into a conversational<br />

poem, as if it was just that easy to write. In fact, I used<br />

this book all summer as a catalyst before I wrote – kind<br />

of like stretching before a game of tennis with my son!<br />

I heard him read this year and was taken by his erudition.<br />

This collection references all the shadows of<br />

poetry including Ovid, Dante, and Valery. Collins is a<br />

brand unto his own and smartly American. From<br />

August in Paris, he asks the reader:<br />

But where are you, reader,<br />

who have not paused in your walk<br />

to look over my shoulder<br />

to see what I am jotting in this notebook<br />

This summer, Kathy has been walking along the shores<br />

of Jamaica Pond with her own notebook. This is an<br />

excerpt from a poem entitled, June on Jamaica Pond.<br />

<strong>The</strong> surface of the pond, like the summer itself<br />

is as new tonight, as the idea of the first circle is perfect<br />

as if the three sailboats discovered themselves upon this water<br />

the way they stroke it, so delicately parting<br />

what they love<br />

a thin wake opens and closes as if never there<br />

I know something deeper is below<br />

but not what darkness, or just how thick<br />

their white sails so pure, like the people on the boats<br />

who live forever in this silhouette<br />

as if their thoughts have never been thought<br />

like the summer itself,<br />

lost in a blue day<br />

signaling something that is here, then gone<br />

hold onto this edge<br />

this hint of you.<br />

32 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

War and Peace on Bread Loaf Mountain<br />

When I started working on this issue of<br />

the Bulletin, and it became clear that<br />

I would look at summer reading, a<br />

chorus of voices cried, “You have to talk with Kyra—<br />

she’s reading War and Peace this summer!” Kyra Fries<br />

first came to <strong>Park</strong> in 2001 as an intern. During that<br />

year and the next, she became a fixture in the English<br />

Department, working closely with Juliet Baker and<br />

Curt Miller in the English and Drama Departments.<br />

After teaching high school students at Gould Academy<br />

in Bethel, Maine, Kyra returned to <strong>Park</strong> in 2006.<br />

She teaches English to Grades VII, VIII, and IX, and<br />

co-directs <strong>Park</strong>’s drama program with Curt Miller.<br />

This summer, Kyra Fries completed her fourth<br />

year at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf <strong>School</strong> of<br />

English. In August, I traveled up to the idyllic mountain<br />

campus to ask Kyra about her experiences at<br />

graduate school. In particular, I wanted to learn more<br />

about her course on Tolstoy’s War and Peace, which<br />

seemed to take summer reading up several notches.<br />

—Kate LaPine, editor<br />

Tell me about War and Peace<br />

I signed up for the course, a close reading<br />

of Tolstoy’s masterpiece, in February and<br />

bought the book the day after. <strong>The</strong> course<br />

description in the catalogue said, “It is<br />

important to have read the whole novel<br />

before the class begins,” and besides, I<br />

wanted to be able to do the work of the<br />

class rather than simply keeping up with<br />

the reading. So I got to work. <strong>The</strong> new<br />

translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa<br />

Volokhonsky has 1,215 pages.<br />

On a normal day in Boston, my alarm<br />

goes off at 6:00 a.m. I press snooze a few<br />

times before getting up to walk my dog,<br />

Basket, and get home in time to eat<br />

breakfast before heading off to <strong>Park</strong>. But<br />

I had to adjust my morning routine to<br />

accommodate the reading. All spring, I<br />

got up at 5:15 and read for 30 minutes.<br />

I figured out that I could read ten pages<br />

in that time — with my pen, of course.<br />

After teaching the skill to students for so<br />

long, I think I’m a pretty good active<br />

reader. I knew I had to mark passages,<br />

note events, circle characters—how else<br />

would I be able to remember what I’d<br />

read in June On weekends I’d try to read<br />

more, but by graduation I still had about<br />

500 pages left! Obviously, I had to change<br />

my schedule slightly . . . with a simple<br />

division problem I discovered that in the<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 33


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

six days between <strong>Park</strong> meetings and<br />

Bread Loaf classes I had to read 83 pages<br />

a day. Minimum. I am proud to say that I<br />

arrived having finished the book.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Bread Loaf program is very<br />

intense. You have two classes everyday<br />

and it feels as if the whole world goes<br />

away while you’re here. My two classes<br />

started at 10:00 a.m. So I’d wake up at<br />

6:00 and read what I needed for classes:<br />

whatever chapters I needed to be ready<br />

to discuss in War and Peace and whatever<br />

was on the agenda for my other class.<br />

I also had writing to keep up with; both<br />

of my professors wanted a short paper<br />

each week, and both had major projects<br />

due at the end of the term.<br />

What course did you pair with War<br />

and Peace<br />

My other class, a seminar called “<strong>The</strong><br />

Language Wars,” examined the struggle<br />

about linguistic power and how gender,<br />

race, and class have shaped and<br />

responded to the English language in<br />

recent years. It was equally amazing in<br />

terms of content—although much more<br />

varied. We read everything from heady<br />

linguistic theory to Junot Diaz’s Nobel<br />

Prize winning novel, <strong>The</strong> Brief Wonderous<br />

Life of Oscar Wao.<br />

Describe the Bread Loaf program.<br />

How did you choose it<br />

Initially, I was undecided about whether I<br />

should pursue a master’s in English or<br />

drama. I wasn’t all that interested in<br />

going to ed school—I really wanted to<br />

learn the material that I was teaching.<br />

One of my mentors at Gould Academy,<br />

who is a Bread Loaf graduate, suggested<br />

that I look into this program. <strong>The</strong> sixweek<br />

summer term enables students to<br />

earn a degree over five years, which<br />

works well for those of us who are teachers.<br />

While the main campus is in Vermont,<br />

there are also locations in Asheville (North<br />

Carolina), Santa Fe (New Mexico), and<br />

Oxford (England). I actually spent my first<br />

summer in Juneau, Alaska; now they’ve<br />

discontinued that one. Some of my peers<br />

spend a summer in each place, but I’ve<br />

stayed in Vermont both for its incredible<br />

professors and the special addition of<br />

theater.<br />

<strong>The</strong> professors here are truly masters<br />

in their fields. With no undergrads, and<br />

an idyllic setting, the program attracts a<br />

lot of high caliber scholars. <strong>The</strong> curriculum<br />

is divided into five groups: 1) Writing<br />

and the Teaching of Writing; 2) English<br />

Literature Through the 17th Century; 3)<br />

English Literature Since the 17th Century;<br />

4) American Literature; and 5) World Literature.<br />

Courses range from “Poetry<br />

Writing” (with Paul Muldoon, the Pulitzer<br />

Prize-winning poet!) to “Metaphysical<br />

and Cavalier: Poetics and Politics in 17th<br />

Century England.”<br />

Up here in Vermont, Bread Loaf has<br />

an acting ensemble that joins the campus.<br />

<strong>The</strong> company is made up of professional,<br />

equity actors who put on a<br />

full-scale production each summer for the<br />

Bread Loaf and Middlebury communities.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y also work with professors to do dramatic<br />

readings and performances of the<br />

material in our courses. I love how English<br />

and drama coincide here; it really appeals<br />

to my interest at <strong>Park</strong>.<br />

34 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


S U M M E R<br />

3<br />

R E A D I N G<br />

What has been your favorite course<br />

I love War and Peace. But another course<br />

that springs to mind is one I took two<br />

years ago called “19th Century Fiction<br />

and the Meaning of Space.” It was<br />

taught by the wife of my War and Peace<br />

professor, Isobel Armstrong, and it blew<br />

my mind. <strong>The</strong> reading list was intense—<br />

Charles Dickens, Joseph Conrad, Mary<br />

Shelley, all three Brontës, George Eliot,<br />

Jane Austen, to list just a few. We also<br />

read lots of critical theorists. We did<br />

close reading, specifically thinking about<br />

how details in the physical space can<br />

inform an interpretation of the text.<br />

How do you apply what you’re learning<br />

to your own teaching<br />

This is a great question—it’s amazing<br />

how frequently my experiences up here<br />

“on the mountain” come to mind as I<br />

teach my <strong>Park</strong> students during the year.<br />

Simply put, being a graduate student<br />

helps me understand better what my students<br />

are experiencing. I turn papers in<br />

and feel the same expectation that they<br />

do in waiting to get them back. I have to<br />

craft thesis statements and close read—<br />

two truly tough but thoroughly enjoyable<br />

skills I get to teach my ninth graders.<br />

It’s also fun to hang out with a<br />

bunch of English teachers all summer—<br />

we share ideas all the time. Walking to<br />

lunch, we might plan a lesson on Romeo<br />

and Juliet. After class, we might discuss<br />

whether English curricula could become<br />

less canonical and start teaching lesserknown<br />

world literature. I keep a list at the<br />

front of my notebook about any ideas<br />

that stir in my brain as I attend class every<br />

day—I am, after all, in the presence of<br />

greatness!<br />

Do you remember your own summer<br />

reading as a kid Any favorites<br />

I went to a Waldorf <strong>School</strong> and we didn’t<br />

have specific requirements. I remember<br />

getting ahold of another school’s list and<br />

making my way through it. I read a lot of<br />

Newbury Award winners, all the Nancy<br />

Drew mysteries and, I have to admit, lots<br />

of <strong>The</strong> Babysitter’s Club series.<br />

What’s your next book<br />

I think I need to re-read Anna Karenina.<br />

<strong>The</strong> last time I read it, I had just graduated<br />

from college so I need a refresher.<br />

Tolstoy wrote the book five years after he<br />

finished War and Peace and the final epilogues<br />

set the scene for the familial struggle<br />

in Anna K. But, before that, I’m<br />

making my way through Gone with the<br />

Wind. Somehow I’ve never read the book<br />

OR seen the movie. I’m 300 pages in<br />

(another long one!), and loving it in a<br />

vacationy-summer-reading kind of way. I<br />

think Margaret Mitchell must have also<br />

been reading Tolstoy when she wrote it.<br />

It’s like her response to War and Peace —<br />

but in America.<br />

By the way—I think I might try to<br />

keep up the 5:15 a.m. reading schedule,<br />

at least during the fall and spring. I love<br />

starting the day with a bit of literature.<br />

Here’s to another year of reading!<br />

. . . it’s amazing how frequently<br />

my experiences up here “on the<br />

mountain” come to mind as I<br />

teach my <strong>Park</strong> students during<br />

the year.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 35


Alumni Notes<br />

1933<br />

Bruce Ehrmann writes that he and<br />

his wife, Nancy, “were blessed with<br />

the birth of a great-grandson, Isaac<br />

Solomon Ehrmann, in January 2009.”<br />

(Isaac is the son of Benjamin<br />

Ehrmann, <strong>Park</strong> Class of 1996.)<br />

1938<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Putty McDowell<br />

781-320-1960<br />

Pbmcd2@verizon.net<br />

1948<br />

Warren “Renny” Little had the<br />

pleasure of serving on the committee<br />

for the 50th anniversary of lacrosse at<br />

the Rivers <strong>School</strong>, where he taught<br />

and coached Varsity and J.V. lacrosse<br />

for six years. “Over 80 graduates<br />

showed up for the Alumni Game, a<br />

BBQ, and then watched the men’s<br />

Varsity team beat Belmont Hill.”<br />

1950<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Galen Clough<br />

812-477-2454<br />

1953<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Bob Bray<br />

617-696-8673<br />

rbray@thebraygroup.com<br />

B E C O M E A<br />

Class Representative<br />

Stay in touch with old friends!<br />

Gather class news for the Bulletin!<br />

Help plan your reunion!<br />

Want to learn more<br />

Please contact Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98<br />

Director of Alumni Relations<br />

617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org<br />

1955<br />

Elizabeth Dane writes, “We are<br />

snowbirds between Tucson and Red<br />

Lodge, Montana, where four grandchildren<br />

live. I am having a wonderful<br />

time playing the recorder with several<br />

early music groups and an old time<br />

band. Music has opened up some<br />

delightful new worlds.” Her husband,<br />

Patrick Clinton, collects Mexican and<br />

South American folk art.<br />

1956<br />

2008–09 <strong>Park</strong> Alumni<br />

Achievement Award<br />

Michael R. Deland ’56<br />

This award is to be given to the<br />

alumnus/alumna who exemplifies <strong>The</strong><br />

<strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong>’s values and<br />

educational mission through<br />

distinctive achievement in his or her<br />

community or field of endeavor. This<br />

person’s leadership and<br />

contributions have made a<br />

meaningful impact and inspire our<br />

current students and alumni.<br />

Nathalie Hubbard Bramson let us<br />

know that her son, Samuel Appleton<br />

Bramson, will be a senior this coming<br />

year at Carnegie Mellon University.<br />

Nathalie’s husband, Lee, recently<br />

retired from the National Endowment<br />

for the Humanities. Roger Brown<br />

writes, “I attended Browne and<br />

Nichols <strong>School</strong> in Cambridge right<br />

after <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong>, and we had our<br />

50th reunion this June. It was a great<br />

time and a lot of fun...some classmates<br />

I had not seen for 50 years,<br />

but we all related quite well, sharing<br />

experiences and memories from the<br />

‘old days.’ When I first arrived at<br />

B & N as a ninth grader, I was welcomed<br />

by Gerry “Tish” Tishler<br />

and Bill Bazley ’55 who were with<br />

me at <strong>Park</strong>. We covered both schools<br />

in our stories.”<br />

1963<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Amy Lampert<br />

617-232-4595<br />

aslampert@gis.net<br />

1966<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Wigs Frank<br />

610-964-8057<br />

Emily Burr and her husband and<br />

have been working at <strong>The</strong> Meeting<br />

<strong>School</strong>, a small Quaker boarding<br />

school in Rindge, New Hampshire.<br />

Emily is the lead science teacher, a<br />

houseparent, and admissions director.<br />

She tells us, “Our school is also a<br />

working organic farm. If you want<br />

to know more, check out our website<br />

www.meetingschool.org.”<br />

1967<br />

Class Representative Needed<br />

Heidi Ravven is a professor of religious<br />

studies at Hamilton College and<br />

is working on her book, Searching for<br />

36 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


A lifelong public servant, Mike Deland is both an<br />

environmentalist and an advocate for people with<br />

disabilities. Under his leadership as the New<br />

England Regional Administrator for the<br />

Environmental Protection Agency from 1983‒89,<br />

the Agency filed the landmark federal lawsuit to<br />

clean-up Boston Harbor, as well as precedentsetting<br />

wetlands protection and hazardous waste<br />

litigation. In 1989, Mike was nominated by<br />

President George H. W. Bush to serve as the<br />

Chairman of the White House Council on<br />

Environmental Quality and was unanimously<br />

confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In 1993, with<br />

President Bush’s encouragement, Mike Deland<br />

began working with the National Organization on<br />

Disability, which represents 54 million disabled<br />

Americans. Over six years, he spearheaded the<br />

successful campaign to add a statue of President<br />

Roosevelt in his wheelchair at the FDR Memorial.<br />

From 1993‒2000, he worked in the energy and<br />

power distribution field at American Flywheel<br />

Systems, Inc (now AFSTrinity Power). More<br />

recently, Mike has worked with Robert and<br />

Jonathan Kraft ’79 to make Gillette Stadium the<br />

most accessible venue in the NFL.<br />

Mike and his wife, Jane, live in<br />

Washington, D.C. However, the Delands lived in<br />

Boston for many years, and their twin daughters,<br />

Holly and Melissa are members of the <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

Class of 1995.<br />

FOR MIKE DELAND, the paths that have<br />

shaped his career are easy to trace. “I’ve spent a<br />

lifetime in public service—a commitment that<br />

was instilled at home.” Growing up in Brookline,<br />

Mike remembers his father, an attorney, attending<br />

the weekly meetings of the Brookline Town<br />

Meeting and the Planning Committee. “From an<br />

early age, I admired his service to the Town.<br />

Later, as the Board Chair of Affiliated Hospitals,<br />

he was patient and tenacious in merging four<br />

hospitals into what is now Brigham and<br />

Women’s.”<br />

“We were brought up in the out-of-doors;<br />

sailing in Marion and subsequently hiking and<br />

skiing. Looking back, I know that fostered my<br />

interest in the environment.” Mike spent Kindergarten<br />

through Grade III at <strong>Park</strong>’s Kennard Road<br />

campus before going on to Dexter. He graduated<br />

from Noble & Greenough <strong>School</strong> and Harvard,<br />

and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy before<br />

obtaining his law degree from Boston College in<br />

1969. In 1964, Mike’s life changed drastically<br />

when he severely injured his back while playing<br />

football in the Navy. For nearly 30 years, he has<br />

used a wheelchair, but that hasn’t slowed him<br />

down a bit. “I still love sailing and until recently,<br />

raced competitively against world-class sailors,”<br />

Mike says. (Twice, he won the national championship<br />

in the Shields Class.) “Now, I have special<br />

winch that lifts me onto the boat.”<br />

Following law school, Mike served in the<br />

enforcement division of the newly formed Environmental<br />

Protection Agency, fighting to clean<br />

up New England’s air, water, and land. After<br />

working at a private environmental consulting<br />

company, he received a call from William Ruckelshaus<br />

in 1983. Mike recalls, “<strong>The</strong> EPA was in<br />

crisis due to mass resignations over the mishandling<br />

of the Superfund clean-ups, and President<br />

Reagan had appointed Ruckelshaus to restore<br />

public trust in the Agency. I knew we had to do<br />

something to stimulate morale in a hurry – the<br />

Agency needed to be resuscitated.” Mike’s first<br />

move was to file a criminal action against the<br />

City of Boston and the Archdiocese for asbestos<br />

in the schools. <strong>The</strong>n, working with Doug Foy of<br />

the Conservation Law Foundation, the EPA took<br />

on the mammoth task of cleaning up Boston<br />

Harbor. “It’s wonderful that people are fishing<br />

and swimming again in the Harbor,” Mike<br />

remarks. “Winning that battle was tremendous<br />

and I’m proud to say that, unlike the Big Dig, it<br />

was the largest public works project to be completed<br />

ahead of schedule and under budget!”<br />

“But likely my most far-reaching endeavor,”<br />

he continues, “Was adding the statue of President<br />

Roosevelt in a wheelchair at his memorial in<br />

Washington.” <strong>The</strong> original, 7.5-acre memorial<br />

dedicated in 1997 omitted any depiction of President<br />

Roosevelt’s disability. Mike credits President<br />

Bush for re-kindling his interest in disability<br />

issues. In January 1993, Mike went into the Oval<br />

Office to say goodbye to the President at the end<br />

of his term. Mr. Bush said, “Mike, you have a<br />

responsibility to do something for people with<br />

disabilities.” He replied, “I know, Mr. President,<br />

but you have to get involved, too.” <strong>The</strong> former<br />

President did assume a lead role in the FDR<br />

Wheelchair statue campaign. “I’ve been blessed<br />

to work with caring and committed leaders like<br />

Elliot Richardson ’35, George H.W. Bush, and<br />

Christopher Reeve,” Mike comments.<br />

Upon reflection, Mike remembered speaking<br />

up for a <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> classmate who had polio<br />

and had a difficult time getting around the playground.<br />

“Even then, I knew that it was<br />

important to treat all people equally. Some of the<br />

other kids in my class were picking on him<br />

because he couldn’t run. Intuitively, I understood<br />

that equality applied to everyone – able-bodied<br />

or disabled.” Years later, he initiated and led a<br />

six-year battle to add the statue because he<br />

believed “It would be unconscionable for children<br />

not to know that FDR had led this country<br />

through the Depression and World War II from<br />

his wheelchair.”<br />

Mike Deland ’56 will speak with <strong>Park</strong>’s current<br />

ninth graders on Friday, October 9, 2009.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 37


Josh David ’78 celebrates the opening<br />

of the High Line park in New York City.<br />

<strong>Park</strong> friends hiked on Franconia Ridge this year. L-R: Lisa Frost ’72, Nina Bramhall, Ginny Maynard Swain ’74, Kitta Frost ’74,<br />

Sarah Henry Lederman ’74, and Margaret Smith Bell ’74<br />

Ethics. She writes, “My daughter,<br />

Simha (an only child), finished medical<br />

school and is back in Boston and<br />

doing her residency at the Cambridge<br />

Health Alliance Adult Psychiatry<br />

Residency Program of Harvard<br />

Medical <strong>School</strong>. She is married and<br />

is 32 years old.”<br />

1968<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Vicky Hall Kehlenbeck<br />

781-235-2990<br />

vkehlenbeck@rc.com<br />

1973<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Rick Berenson<br />

617-969-0523<br />

Barbara@berenson.info<br />

1974<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Margaret Smith Bell<br />

617-267-4141<br />

James_bell65@msn.com<br />

Rodger Cohen<br />

508-651-3981<br />

skiboy@mindspring.com<br />

Beth Haffenreffer Scholle tells us<br />

that, “After 19 years at <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

(ten for me and nine for Liza ’10),<br />

<strong>Park</strong> has become an important part of<br />

me. I know I’ll really miss being a<br />

‘current parent’ next year! Well, at<br />

least we can all still call ourselves<br />

‘ALUMNI.’” Shady Hartshorne and<br />

his wife, Laurie Ellis, took a road trip<br />

through Alabama. “We went to<br />

Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery,<br />

and Mobile and took in a<br />

AA baseball game in each city. I got<br />

to throw out one of the first pitches<br />

for the Huntsville Stars’ game.”<br />

Shady and Laurie write articles for<br />

GoNomad.com. Take a look at this<br />

one on Huntsville, Alabama:<br />

http://www.gonomad.com/destinations/0907/alabama-huntsville.html<br />

1975 35th Reunion<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Colin McNay<br />

617-731-1746<br />

fivebear@mac.com<br />

Bill Sullivan<br />

978-568-1303<br />

Nancy Nayor Battino enjoyed a<br />

quiet summer in Los Angeles. She<br />

had a wonderful reunion dinner in<br />

L.A. a few months ago with Pharibe<br />

Wise and Didi Belash. Nancy says<br />

that her “latest casting project,<br />

BANDSLAM, a musical film starring<br />

Vanessa Hudgens (of High <strong>School</strong><br />

Musical fame) and Lisa Kudrow,<br />

opened August 14th. An adorable<br />

film that’s perfect for a teen audience—enjoy!”<br />

1976<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Tenney Mead Cover<br />

781-329-5449<br />

Tenney.cover@verizon.net<br />

After six years at St. Paul’s <strong>School</strong> in<br />

Concord, New Hampshire, Barbara<br />

Talcott loves her career as a school<br />

chaplain and teacher and her family<br />

loves the boarding school lifestyle. “I<br />

was ordained by the Episcopal Bishop<br />

of New Hampshire in February, so<br />

my family and I will be moving to St.<br />

Mark’s <strong>School</strong> in Southborough,<br />

Mass., where I will take on the job of<br />

head chaplain and chair of the Religion<br />

Department. It’s a far better<br />

commute for my husband, Doug,<br />

who has been driving to Cambridge.<br />

All is well with our children, now<br />

aged 21 to 12, as well as with our parents.<br />

We are truly blessed.”<br />

1977<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Sam Solomon<br />

781-784-0385<br />

sa.solomon@verizon.net<br />

Marshall Berenson and his wife,<br />

Kathy, sold their floral and event<br />

design business of 18 years. “We are<br />

both studying acting now,” Marshall<br />

writes. “A salute to Ms. Marmarchev<br />

(I think I spelled her name right!). It<br />

was huge fun and very challenging.”<br />

Juliet Lamont reports that her watershed<br />

restoration/protection work in<br />

Berkeley is still going strong. “It is<br />

even more compelling with the focus<br />

on climate change, and (thankfully!) a<br />

new federal administration.” Juliet<br />

traveled to Yellowstone in the winter<br />

for outdoors & wolves, and Panama<br />

in the spring for birds, marine<br />

wildlife, and rainforests. Congratulations<br />

to Stephen Thomas and his<br />

partner, Holli Lopatowski, on the<br />

birth of their son, Kaden Allen<br />

Thomas on June 23, 2009.<br />

1978<br />

Class Representative Needed<br />

Josh David writes, “After ten years of<br />

work, I opened the High Line, a great<br />

new park on top of an elevated rail<br />

viaduct in Manhattan, in June.” He<br />

started the High Line project with a<br />

neighbor, Robert Hammond, back in<br />

1999, when the historic structure<br />

was going to be torn down. Since<br />

June, half a million people have<br />

already been up to visit. “<strong>The</strong> critical<br />

and public feedback have been<br />

38 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


1979 Classmates Nadia Belash McKay Wendi Daniels, Lalla Carothers, and<br />

Madeline Rains<br />

In honor of their 30th Reunion, the Class of 1979 wrote many<br />

haikus, remembering their days at <strong>Park</strong>. Here is just a sampling of<br />

their creativity:<br />

Children on an old porch<br />

Dark wooden churns<br />

Cream to butter, dreams to life<br />

Kindergarten fingers<br />

Smoothing the secret stone<br />

Conjuring a life<br />

Our gymnastics show<br />

Young girls yank on leotards<br />

Flipping over bars<br />

Sicky sweets slide on<br />

Lip Smackers circle classrooms<br />

Sharing smiles and germs<br />

Project R.E.A.S.O.N. tales<br />

Everyone’s back from hiking<br />

Where are those three boys<br />

Whisper, titter, blush.<br />

Monsieur Planchon hears it all<br />

Chalk flies out. Busted!<br />

Winter at <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

We trudge our feet on carpet<br />

Look; our hair stands up!<br />

Grape yellow sunset<br />

Red so bright it stings<br />

Her Marimeko outfit<br />

Tepid milk at lunch<br />

Watching the cartons perspire<br />

Why can’t we get juice<br />

Reading, writing, math<br />

Fluorescent lights blaze downward<br />

Our little eyes strain<br />

Gallantly in snow<br />

Bill Satterthwaite bikes to school<br />

Steady as he goes<br />

Dance in the small gym<br />

Air guitars reverberate<br />

“More Than A Feeling”<br />

Snickers rise and fall<br />

Spears launch from a thousand stares<br />

I’m on the Black Bench<br />

Deep stairwell beckons<br />

Loose dimes clatter down<br />

<strong>The</strong> noise of swift expulsion<br />

Metal spoon scrapes bowl<br />

Today, vanilla pudding<br />

<strong>The</strong> top part is gross<br />

tremendous —it’s a wonderful place!<br />

I urge <strong>Park</strong> alumni to check it<br />

out” www.thehighline.org<br />

1979<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Lalla Carothers<br />

207-829-2283<br />

lacaro@maine.rr.com<br />

Sally Solomon<br />

617-354-5951<br />

sallysolomon@alumni.neu.edu<br />

“We had a fab reunion!” says Wendi<br />

Daniels. “Thank you Kevin<br />

McCarthy and Amy Lloyd<br />

McCarthy ’86 for hosting us—it<br />

rocked! Some memorable moments:<br />

Margie Talcott remembered the<br />

entire May Pole dance and brought<br />

music to show her prowess; Cary<br />

Godbey Turner shared her diary and<br />

opened up her historic love life from<br />

the 70’s! Sally Solomon, Madeline<br />

Rains (nee Barbara Roberts) and<br />

others showed us they are still the<br />

Haiku queens! (left) Hilary Hart,<br />

we read a few of yours too! <strong>The</strong>re is<br />

truly something magical about the<br />

friendships we have created at <strong>Park</strong> —<br />

it was great to see all of you!” Nina<br />

Frusztajer reports that she is enjoying<br />

practicing medicine again, and that<br />

the 30th Reunion was a blast. “I’m so<br />

glad I went (what fun reminiscing<br />

about spin the bottle at Nadia’s<br />

house!)” Nina recently returned from<br />

visiting Linda Runyon Mutschler at<br />

her lake house in Milwaukee. “Our<br />

kids all had fun together and, of<br />

course, I always love spending time<br />

with Linda. She is training for a<br />

marathon and so our 6.3 mile run<br />

was at a pace I’m not sure I’ve ever<br />

run!” Linda is also the author of Fast<br />

Track to Fine Dining: A Step-By-Step<br />

Guide to Planning a Dinner Party. Cary<br />

Godbey Turner also shared her<br />

thoughts about the 30th Reunion celebration<br />

at <strong>Park</strong>. “Our 30th Reunion,<br />

hosted by Kevin and Amy McCarthy<br />

in their spectacular home around the<br />

corner from <strong>Park</strong>, was an evening full<br />

of sharing old photos, diaries, yearbooks<br />

and some hilarious stories. We<br />

didn’t realize until now how much<br />

our <strong>Park</strong> years were a “coming of<br />

age” period in all our lives that<br />

involved our parents and our siblings.<br />

<strong>The</strong> highlight for me was reconnecting<br />

with Barbara Roberts (Madeline<br />

Rains, now) after 30 years of losing<br />

touch—we couldn’t stop smiling and<br />

staring at each other. I did remember<br />

the camera and have included some<br />

fun shots of the evening. Everyone<br />

looked exactly the same, actually better!<br />

Glad we had a few patient husbands<br />

along (mine and Nadia<br />

Belash’s) to help with the lack of<br />

male turnout. <strong>The</strong> next day was<br />

Mother’s Day, and for a treat to ourselves,<br />

Barbara and I found the<br />

courage to visit our old apartments in<br />

Back Bay, and the current owners<br />

were nice enough to let us in for a<br />

nostalgic tour!” Cary also updated us<br />

on what she is up to in Vermont. “My<br />

husband Jeff and I still live on Nantucket<br />

year-round with our two kids,<br />

Alden and Jackson, ages 5 and 6, but<br />

we own and operate McAdoo Rugs in<br />

North Bennington, Vermont. With<br />

the help of our operations manager<br />

and a devoted and talented staff of<br />

ladies, our travels back and forth are<br />

more of a vacation than a necessity! I<br />

did take an order online the other day<br />

from the <strong>Park</strong> librarian —what a small<br />

world! McAdoo Rugs makes the<br />

finest hand hooked wool rugs in the<br />

world and has existed to help local<br />

artisans since 1972. In this recent economic<br />

downturn, it’s been a challenging<br />

few years, but we hope to hang on<br />

and keep this cottage industry alive<br />

for years to come.” Sally Solomon<br />

writes, “We really did have a great<br />

class!” Sally’s work is a lot of fun<br />

these days, more academic advising<br />

for college students. “I am enjoying<br />

the fruits of our technology revolution<br />

by keeping in touch with <strong>Park</strong> classmates<br />

on Facebook. Nothing else<br />

new. Looking forward to reading the<br />

Bulletin to learn what’s up with more<br />

<strong>Park</strong> folks.”<br />

1980 30th Reunion<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Andrew Hurwitz<br />

323-468-9276<br />

andreshurwitz@yahoo.com<br />

In March, Sloan Wagstaff-Calahan<br />

Gallipeo and her husband traveled to<br />

Antarctica with Marathon Tours and<br />

Travel, a trip about two years in the<br />

making. Sloan writes, “We had a great<br />

time—my husband ran the full<br />

marathon and I ended up running the<br />

half marathon. It was a brutal course,<br />

having only trained on the flat lands<br />

in Huntington Beach—lots of mud,<br />

rocks, hills, some ice. . . but an amazing<br />

and fun experience. People on the<br />

trip running were anywhere from in<br />

their 20’s to 75-years-old. So I figure I<br />

have a few more years of running in<br />

me! Since I didn’t run the full<br />

marathon I had to make up for it by<br />

running the Eugene Oregon<br />

marathon in early May. I lined up at<br />

the start with one of the “Marathon<br />

Maniacs” who was working his way<br />

up to his 100th marathon. He was<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 39


65-years-old and had just run the Big<br />

Sur marathon the weekend before.”<br />

Sloane and her husband are planning<br />

on heading to Japan in November to<br />

run a marathon near Mt. Fuji with<br />

some people they met on the Antartica<br />

trip. Should be another great<br />

adventure! This summer, Sabrina<br />

Mott drove across the country from<br />

Dana Point, California to Maine. “It<br />

was lots of fun. My kids and dog all<br />

survived. I enjoyed family and tried<br />

to relax a bit before heading West<br />

again in August. I am enjoying being<br />

connected to <strong>Park</strong> friends on Facebook!”<br />

Check out Myra Paci’s new<br />

blog, www.myrapaci.com/blog. “It’s<br />

called <strong>The</strong> Myra Show and features<br />

my ‘undiluted writings, pics and<br />

video’ as opposed to the video production<br />

work I do for hire, viewable<br />

at www.casamadrefilms.com. With<br />

three other women I’m in the early<br />

stages of starting an online artists’<br />

salon for all kinds of writing, fine<br />

arts, moving pictures, etc. Other than<br />

that I send a big hello to everybody. I<br />

hope you’re enjoying life.”<br />

1981<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Matt Carothers<br />

508-785-0770<br />

Mcarothers88@yahoo.com<br />

Alex Melhman<br />

781-461-8510<br />

amehlman@yahoo.com<br />

Howard Chaffey writes, “I am gambling<br />

with baby ruminids (a.k.a.<br />

cows) on our organic farm in the<br />

Catskills.” It was good to hear from<br />

Beth Wheeler. For an update, go to<br />

her website: www.emmyandbethadopt.com.<br />

Classes of 1980–1986 Reception<br />

March 4, 2009<br />

Stephen Kelly and Joanie Amick Kelly ’83<br />

hosted a festive gathering of alumni from the<br />

Classes of 1980– 86 at their home.<br />

Everyone was thrilled to be together again and<br />

enjoyed hearing Jerry Katz’s highlights<br />

about <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> today.<br />

REUNION<br />

2010<br />

CELEBRATE!<br />

CELEBRATE!<br />

REUNION 2010<br />

Saturday, May 8<br />

10 th 2000 30 th 1980<br />

15 th 1995 35 th 1975<br />

20 th 1990 40 th 1970<br />

25 th 1985 50 th 1955<br />

If you are interested in helping to plan your reunion,<br />

please contact Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98<br />

Director of Alumni Relations<br />

617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org<br />

1982 classmates Jen Segal Herman and Allison Nash Mael<br />

John Koltun ’81, Diana Walcott ’85 and Jerry Katz<br />

Longtime friends Jennifer Nadelson Gleba ’83, Rob Ball ’83,<br />

and Martina Albright ’83 caught up and reminisced about<br />

their years at <strong>Park</strong>.<br />

40 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


1982<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Allison Nash Mael<br />

617-332-0925<br />

emael@msn.com<br />

1983<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Lisa Livens Freeman<br />

llivens@hotmail.com<br />

508-878-2953<br />

Elise Mott<br />

978-368-6009<br />

emott@fenn.org<br />

Juliet Siler Eastland is back in<br />

Brookline with her husband, raising<br />

my two lovely daughters (four and<br />

a half and 11 months) and doing<br />

some occasional freelance writing<br />

and even more occasional jazz pianoplaying.<br />

Juliet tells us that she just<br />

had her first gig in years! “After<br />

several peripatetic decades, it feels<br />

wonderful to be finally settled.” Josh<br />

Wolman left Tulsa, Oklahoma and<br />

returned to Sidwell Friends <strong>School</strong><br />

in Washington, D.C., where he is<br />

director of admission and associate<br />

head of school.<br />

1984<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Anne Collins Goodyear<br />

703-931-9016<br />

Acg10@gmail.com<br />

A belated congratulations to Cynthia<br />

Pierce who had a baby last August.<br />

Cynthia writes, “Alison Ginger<br />

McNally, her father, and I currently<br />

live in Bed-Stuy – Brooklyn, New<br />

York.” Classmate Sarah Wolman<br />

gave birth to Jack Benjamin Wolman<br />

Levine on April 16! “Big brother Sam<br />

and big sister Hannah (pictured) are<br />

very proud,” Sarah writes. “I am currently<br />

on maternity leave from my<br />

role as Executive Director of Family<br />

Service League, a community-based<br />

non-profit in Montclair, New Jersey,<br />

which is where we live.”<br />

1985 25th Reunion<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Rachel Levine Foley<br />

781-559-8148<br />

rlfoles@aol.com<br />

Missy Daniels Madden<br />

781-237-4959<br />

melissadmadden@comcast.net<br />

Jessie Howland Cahill gave birth to<br />

Sarah Louise Cahill on December 10,<br />

2008.<br />

1986<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Mark Epker<br />

781-326-4299<br />

mepker@beaconcommunitiesllc.com<br />

Jay Livens<br />

978-318-0866<br />

jlivens@sloan.mit.edu<br />

This spring, several members of the<br />

Class of 1986 gathered for a minireunion<br />

at the home of Becky and<br />

Garrett Solomon. See page 42.<br />

1987<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Mary Sarah Baker<br />

Mary.sarah.baker@gmail.com<br />

1988<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Liza Cohen Gates<br />

617-267-6184<br />

lagtes@digitas.com<br />

In April, Andrew and Liza Cohen<br />

Gates welcomed twins Oliver and<br />

Isabelle Gates.<br />

1989<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Dahlia Aronson<br />

617-734-3026<br />

dahliabeth@yahoo.com<br />

Ian Glick<br />

617-264-7198<br />

ibglick@aol.com<br />

Rebecca Lewin Scott<br />

781-722-1946<br />

Rebecca.scott@earthlink.net<br />

Robert Colby recently moved to<br />

Chapel Hill, North Carolina to start a<br />

new job at UNC’s Ackland Art<br />

Museum. He is working with faculty<br />

to integrate the museum into the academic<br />

life of the university. “I was glad<br />

to see everyone at the 20th Reunion<br />

before making the big move. Thanks<br />

to Ali Epker Ruch, Alison Morse,<br />

Jordan Scott and Rebecca Lewin Scott<br />

and everyone who helped organize a<br />

brilliant weekend!” Rebecca Lewin<br />

Scott and Jordan Scott welcomed<br />

their second daughter, Charlotte<br />

Eloise, in April. She was two and a<br />

half weeks early but nearly nine<br />

pounds! Rebecca writes, “You can<br />

only imagine how big she would have<br />

been if she had been born at term. Big<br />

sister Abby loves having a little sister.<br />

She told me the other day that Charlotte<br />

is the best gift she has ever<br />

received. Something tells me I am<br />

Hannah gives a squeeze to new brother Jack Wolman Levine, children of<br />

Sarah Wolman ’84<br />

Liza Cohen Gates ’88 has newborn twins, Oliver and Isabelle Gates<br />

Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89, Jordan Scott ’89, Abby Scott and Charlotte Eloise Scott<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 41


Mark Epker ’86, Lisa Amick DiAdamo ’86, Minnie Ames ’86, Meredith Ross ’86,<br />

Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86, host Garrett Solomon ’86 and Jay Livens ’86<br />

Class of 1986 Reception<br />

AP RI L 2, 2009<br />

B<br />

ecky and Garrett Solomon ’86 hosted the Class of<br />

1986 at their home for a wonderful evening of<br />

fun, food and friendship. Head of <strong>School</strong> Jerry Katz<br />

provided the group with an informative update on the<br />

<strong>School</strong> today. <strong>The</strong> highlight was everyone recalling<br />

their favorite <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> memories.<br />

going to need to try to remember<br />

these days when they are feuding<br />

teenagers.” (photo or in babies) Hats<br />

off to David Wolman on the publication<br />

of his new book, Righting the<br />

Mother Tongue: From Olde English to<br />

Email, the Tangled Story of English<br />

Spelling.<br />

1990 20th Reunion<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Zach Cherry<br />

212-863-3339<br />

Alex Rabinksy<br />

773-645-4381<br />

arabinsky@hotmail.com<br />

Sadia Shepard’s book, <strong>The</strong> Girl from<br />

Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors,<br />

Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of<br />

Home, has received rave reviews.<br />

1991<br />

Class Representative Needed<br />

After receiving her PhD from Harvard<br />

in 2008, Ally Field moved to<br />

Los Angeles where she is now an<br />

assistant professor of cinema and<br />

media studies at UCLA’s film school.<br />

“I live in Santa Monica, not too far<br />

from the beach, and I love it so far!”<br />

1993<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Jessica Ko Beck<br />

917-691-3540<br />

jessicako@gmail.com<br />

Jamie Quiros<br />

617-522-3622<br />

qstips@yahoo.com<br />

Ali Ross<br />

646-528-4248<br />

alross@gmail.com<br />

Jessica Naddaff recently launched<br />

her own business, Bite Size Marketing.<br />

“A passionate ally for small business,<br />

new products, and start ups,<br />

Bite Size Marketing is an alternative<br />

to the traditional marketing agency,”<br />

says Jessica. <strong>The</strong> company’s website,<br />

bitesizemarketing.com, is up and running.<br />

That WAS David Walton you<br />

saw on T.V! David was in the television<br />

show “Quarterlife, ”and recently<br />

appeared in episode of the USA Network’s<br />

“In Plain Sight,” where he<br />

played the role of a comedian who<br />

had witnessed a murder and as a<br />

result had to enter the witness protection<br />

program. This fall, you can see<br />

him in a new NBC comedy called<br />

“100 Questions.”<br />

T H E A L U M N I S E R V I C E A W A R D<br />

Established in 1999, the Alumni<br />

Award for Distin guished Service<br />

is presented annually at graduation<br />

to an alumna or alumnus<br />

of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> for dedicated<br />

service to the <strong>Park</strong> community.<br />

Board Chair Kevin Maroni presented<br />

the award on behalf of<br />

the Alumni Committee.<br />

Minnie Ames, Class of 1986<br />

I<br />

t is hard to imagine <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong>’s<br />

alumni community and not think<br />

of Minnie Ames. A dedicated and<br />

loyal leader, Minnie has consistently<br />

demonstrated the power of the<br />

strong connection among our<br />

alumni, and between our alumni<br />

and the <strong>School</strong>. In the twenty-three<br />

years since Minnie Ames graduated<br />

from <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong>’s Grade IX, she has<br />

remained an integral part of the<br />

alumni community.<br />

Minnie has been a very active<br />

member of the Alumni Committee<br />

since 2001, including service as<br />

the Committee’s Co-Chair from<br />

2007–2009. During this time, Minnie<br />

played a key role in determining<br />

ways to improve the Alumni section<br />

of the <strong>Park</strong> website, rallied support<br />

among classmates and friends at a<br />

variety of Alumni events, and led<br />

the Committee through two very<br />

successful years of Alumni outreach,<br />

programming and fundraising. In<br />

the fall of 2006, Minnie stepped in<br />

to help <strong>Park</strong>’s Alumni Relations<br />

Office when the former director for<br />

alumni relations was on maternity<br />

leave. During this time, Minnie spent<br />

countless volunteer hours planning<br />

the Alumni holiday party and taking<br />

on many additional responsibilities.<br />

Minnie played a key role in establishing<br />

the Class of 1986 Financial<br />

Aid Fund, which supports Steppingstone<br />

Scholars at <strong>Park</strong>. Minnie’s dedication<br />

to <strong>Park</strong> extends beyond the<br />

campus. As a former co-chair of the<br />

Alumni Committee’s Volunteerism<br />

Sub-Committee, Minnie organized a<br />

volunteer event for alumni at the<br />

Food Project in Lincoln and helped<br />

to facilitate outreach at the<br />

Women’s Lunch Place in Boston.<br />

Now that Minnie’s daughter,<br />

Lucy, is a member of <strong>Park</strong>’s Class of<br />

2018, Minnie’s legacy at <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

carries on in a multi-layered way. We<br />

are grateful for Minnie’s many years<br />

of thoughtful and dedicated service<br />

to both Alumni and the greater<br />

<strong>School</strong> community, and we know<br />

her future service to <strong>Park</strong> will continue<br />

to be an inspiration to us all.<br />

42 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


1994<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Alan Bern<br />

781-326-8091<br />

alanbern@tulanealumni.net<br />

Aba Taylor<br />

617-361-6370<br />

Abtaylor829@gmail.com<br />

Upon graduating from Harvard<br />

Business <strong>School</strong>, Alexander Ellis and<br />

his wife, Sarah, moved to Portland,<br />

Oregon where he accepted a job with<br />

a start-up wind/solar project development<br />

and operating company. “We’re<br />

spending our free time biking, fishing<br />

and exploring our new city.” In July,<br />

Meryl Glassman married Peter<br />

Farland in Wellesley. “This fall, we’ll<br />

move to San Francisco, where Peter<br />

will work as a software manager for<br />

Adobe and I’ll be fundraising for a<br />

hospital.” Jake Peters has been living<br />

in London for the past year after joining<br />

an air taxi service start-up called<br />

Blink (www.flyblink.com). He writes,<br />

“I love living in London. I am enjoying<br />

traveling for fun much more<br />

than when I had to travel for work<br />

as a consultant.”<br />

1995 15th Reunion<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Lilla Curran<br />

lillacurran@gmail.com<br />

Matt Stahl<br />

617-353-0961<br />

Matt.stahl@mtvnmix.com<br />

1996<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Nick Brescia<br />

nick_e_pockets@hotmail.com<br />

Merrill Hawkins<br />

merrillhawkins@gmail.com<br />

Katayoun Shahroki<br />

Katayoun_shahrokhi@yahoo.com<br />

Kathrene Tiffany<br />

ktiffany@gmail.com<br />

Liz Prives says, “Shalom from<br />

Jerusalem!” She spent three weeks<br />

studying and traveling there. “Before<br />

the trip, I moved to San Francisco<br />

from Menlo <strong>Park</strong> and celebrated<br />

my 29th birthday with Julia Kung<br />

and her brother, Calvin ’99. Gavi<br />

Kohlberg couldn’t make it because<br />

he was on rotation, but hopefully he<br />

will make a cameo at Julia’s birthday<br />

in July.”<br />

1997<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Suzy McManmon<br />

smcmanmon@svip.com<br />

919-949-8262<br />

Sarah Conway<br />

Sarah.r.conway@gmail.com<br />

617-501-5837<br />

Severine Fleming is merrily farming<br />

herbs, rabbits, pigs, chickens, goats<br />

and vegetables in the Hudson Valley<br />

of New York. Her first documentary<br />

film, <strong>The</strong> Greenhorns, will be released<br />

in December. Apart from the filming<br />

and the farming, she directs a nonprofit<br />

advocacy group for young<br />

farmers and consults on new media.<br />

If you have land in your family and<br />

are looking for young farmers to steward<br />

it, she can help you with that<br />

process. If you have a kid sister who<br />

wants to be a farmer, have her visit<br />

www.thegreenhorns.net. Crystal<br />

Jones writes that she has been just<br />

doing the mommy thing. “I have been<br />

blessed with a four-year-old daughter,<br />

one-year-old twins (a girl and a boy),<br />

and I am expecting a little boy some<br />

time late fall. So, I’ve been really<br />

busy, trying to maintain and build my<br />

own business.” Crystal misses her<br />

<strong>Park</strong> buddies and wishes everyone<br />

well. Katherine Jose tells us that she<br />

is living in Brooklyn and working as<br />

managing editor of the New York<br />

Observer, a salmon-colored weekly.<br />

Paul Naddaff is engaged to Ursula<br />

Joy August. “We met while I was<br />

traveling in South Africa five years<br />

ago, she was my waitress. We’ve been<br />

going strong ever since.”<br />

1998<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Lydia Hawkins<br />

lydiahawk@hotmail.com<br />

Meg Lloyd<br />

Buggs6@gmail.com<br />

Sarah Swett<br />

Swett.sarah@gmail.com<br />

Daphne Johnson and Brandon<br />

Berger were married on June 6 on her<br />

father’s horse farm in Zionsville,<br />

Indiana. 320 guests attended, including<br />

<strong>Park</strong> alums Jonathan Tucker and<br />

Julia Rosenthal ’01, who was the<br />

maid of honor. After honeymooning<br />

in the South of France and Lake<br />

Como, Italy, the couple is now living<br />

in the French Quarter of New<br />

Orleans. Since the presidential election,<br />

Ashley White-Stern has been<br />

keeping busy in Northern California,<br />

including co-founding Citizen Hope<br />

N O M I N A T I O N S S O U G H T F O R<br />

THE PARK ALUMNI<br />

ACHIEVEMENT<br />

AWARD<br />

This award is to be given to the <strong>Park</strong> alumnus/alumna who<br />

exemplifies the <strong>School</strong>’s values and educational mission<br />

through distinctive achievement in their community or field<br />

of endeavor. This person’s leadership and contributions<br />

have made a meaningful impact and inspire our current<br />

students and alumni.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Alumni Achievement Award will be presented at<br />

Reunion (May 8, 2010).<br />

To nominate a <strong>Park</strong> alumnus/a for this award, please<br />

include your nominee’s name, class year, profession, and<br />

reason for nomination. All submissions must be received<br />

by Monday, December 1st, to be considered for the<br />

2010 award.<br />

alumni@parkschool.org<br />

or<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> Alumni Office<br />

171 Goddard Avenue<br />

Brookline, MA 02445<br />

WANTED<br />

News From <strong>Park</strong> Alumni<br />

We LOVE hearing from our alumni and<br />

know that classmates are waiting to<br />

learn about their <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> friends.<br />

SEND IN CLASS NOTES and PHOTOS to:<br />

Alumni Office<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

✉ 171 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445<br />

℡ 617-274-6022<br />

alumni@parkschool.org<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 43


(http://citizenhope.org), to promote<br />

progressive politics and civic engagement<br />

at the local level. She writes,<br />

“<strong>The</strong> idea behind starting the group<br />

was: ‘Great, we got our President,<br />

but the work can’t stop now.’ ‘Keep it<br />

moving’ is more or less our motto,<br />

and we have had a number of events<br />

since launching.” Ashley has also<br />

been peripherally involved in Kamala<br />

Harris’s campaign for Attorney General<br />

of California. “In June, we had a<br />

big fundraiser for her in Oakland.<br />

Wanda Holland Greene came with<br />

her husband, Robert, so I got to<br />

spend some quality time with them<br />

both, which was totally delightful!”<br />

In her spare time, Ashley is pursuing<br />

her PhD in film studies at Berkeley, is<br />

committed to doing social justice<br />

work, and is helping out part-time at<br />

a legal services nonprofit organization<br />

in San Francisco.<br />

1999<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Colin Arnold<br />

tanker223@gmail.com<br />

Alex Goldstein<br />

alexjgoldstein@gmail.com<br />

Left: Daphne Johnson Berger ’98 and maid of honor Julia Rosenthal ’01; Right:<br />

1998 classmate Jonathan Tucker attended Daphne Johnson’s wedding in June<br />

Elizabeth Weyman<br />

weymane@gmail.com<br />

Susanna Whitaker-Rahilly<br />

Smwhit02@stlawu.edu<br />

David Cavell continues to enjoy<br />

speechwriting for Governor Deval<br />

Patrick. “If you want me to continue<br />

to enjoy my job, please vote for<br />

Governor Patrick next year,” David<br />

suggests. Fellow politico Alex Goldstein<br />

is currently working as press<br />

secretary for the Executive Office of<br />

Labor and Workforce Development<br />

in Massachusetts. He spends his free<br />

time playing rugby and dabbling in<br />

various political adventures, and had<br />

a terrific time at the 10th Reunion.<br />

Congratulations, Emmy Grote! In<br />

August 2009, she completed her master’s<br />

in medical science as a physician<br />

assistant from Midwestern University<br />

in Glendale, Arizona. She’ll move<br />

back east to work at Rhode Island<br />

Hospital in neuro-critical care. Joy<br />

Kogut teaches Algebra 1 at the<br />

Boston Community Leadership<br />

Academy. She fondly recalls her math<br />

classes with her peers and teachers<br />

at <strong>Park</strong> and hopes “to bring the<br />

same flavors of projects, rigor, laughter,<br />

and all around fun and shenanigans<br />

to my students so they may<br />

also find math too fun to ignore.”<br />

Mira Mehta is living in Abuja, Nigeria,<br />

where she works for the Clinton<br />

Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative.<br />

“My work is primarily focused on<br />

national policy reform and increasing<br />

access to high quality care and treatment<br />

for HIV-positive children across<br />

the country.” Susanna Whitaker-<br />

Rahilly writes, “I had a terrific year<br />

teaching and coaching at the Holderness<br />

<strong>School</strong> in New Hampshire.<br />

<strong>The</strong> highlight was leading students<br />

on a community service trip through<br />

Sustainable Harvest International in<br />

rural Honduras. I slept through all<br />

of the earthquakes and avoided the<br />

military coup, what a summer down<br />

there! This fall, I will assume a new<br />

position at the Brooks <strong>School</strong> in<br />

North Andover, where I will teach<br />

Clockwise from top left:<br />

Diana Walcott ’85, Allison<br />

Morse ’89 and Dahlia Aronson<br />

’89; Sarah Swett ’98 and Meg<br />

Lloyd ’98; Todd Larson ’77,<br />

Heather Crocker Faris ’74,<br />

Robert Faris<br />

ALUMNI NIGHT<br />

AT FENWAY<br />

T U E S D AY, M AY 1 9 , 2 0 0 9<br />

On a brisk May evening, over fifty <strong>Park</strong> Alumni and<br />

their guests came together at Fenway <strong>Park</strong> for the<br />

Annual Alumni Night at Fenway. With Tim<br />

Wakefield on the mound, the Red Sox beat the<br />

Toronto Blue Jays 2–1. Our group enjoyed<br />

seeing “Welcome <strong>Park</strong> Alumni” displayed<br />

on the Jumbotron, munching on<br />

Cracker Jacks and reconnecting<br />

with old friends.<br />

44 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENT<br />

AT GAINING GROUND<br />

April 25, 2009<br />

Frances Denny ’00 is a photographer in New York City. This is a piece<br />

called, “Self Portrait with Nun’s Chest”<br />

pre-modern world and United States<br />

history in addition to coaching basketball<br />

and lacrosse.”<br />

2000 10th Reunion<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Jessica Whitman<br />

Whitman.jessica@gmail.com<br />

Frances Denny writes that she is<br />

“happily working as a fine art and<br />

portrait photographer in New York<br />

City. My website is www.francesdennyphoto.com—take<br />

a look at some of<br />

my work. I would love to hear what<br />

you think.” Frances took this past<br />

summer off to assist photographer<br />

Joyce Tenneson in mid-coast Maine.<br />

Fellow New Yorker Caroline Goldsmith<br />

is teaching three- and fouryear-olds<br />

at a nursery school on the<br />

Upper East Side.<br />

2001<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Diego Alvarado<br />

Daalvarado@suffolk.edu<br />

Ben Bullitt<br />

bbullit@gmail.com<br />

Becca Spiro, who will be an intern at<br />

<strong>Park</strong> during the 2009-10 school year,<br />

writes that during the summer she<br />

was in Chicago, interning for the education<br />

department at the Art Institute.<br />

“Since my internship was paid, it was<br />

very time intensive and involved giving<br />

tours to visitors ranging from<br />

kindergarten students to senior citizens.<br />

I felt challenged and rewarded<br />

every day. <strong>The</strong>re were seven other<br />

interns like me and we were each<br />

responsible for doing research on the<br />

objects we presented and creating lesson<br />

plans and/or presentations that<br />

were age-appropriate.” For Becca, one<br />

of the best parts of the job was walking<br />

around the museum before it<br />

opened to the public. “It was such a<br />

privilege to be in an empty gallery<br />

and have priceless artwork all to<br />

yourself!” Becca is very excited to<br />

return to <strong>Park</strong> for the school year.<br />

2002<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Alex Lebow<br />

alexlebow@gmail.com<br />

Alejandro Alvarado<br />

aalvarado@wesleyan.edu<br />

Katherine Brustowicz graduated<br />

from Bates College in May 2009. She<br />

is now working at Children’s Hospital<br />

in Boston as the data research<br />

coordinator for the Orthopaedics<br />

Department with the upper extremities<br />

unit. In May, Will Faulkner<br />

graduated from Tulane, Phi Beta<br />

Kappa, with honors in linguistics and<br />

Latin American studies. In the summer<br />

of 2008, Will spent a month in<br />

Rio de Janeiro, taking Portuguese in<br />

the mornings and teaching English<br />

in a favela (slum) in the afternoons.<br />

On an unseasonably<br />

sunny, warm day<br />

in April, twenty Alumni<br />

and friends gathered Planting: Deon Wolpowitz P ’18<br />

and Minnie Ames ‘86<br />

at Gaining Ground in<br />

Concord, Massachusetts for a day of community<br />

service. Together, they planted, tilled,<br />

and watered over 100 vegetables plants that<br />

will ultimately be<br />

given to food pantries<br />

in the area. It was<br />

great day of fun, sun,<br />

and giving back to the<br />

community.<br />

Cope Crew: David Wilson ’06,<br />

Eliza Cope ’04, Comfort Halsey Cope,<br />

and a college friend of Eliza’s.<br />

Top Row: Peter Johannsen, Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98, Allison Morse ’89,<br />

Minnie Ames ’86, Amy Lampert ’63, Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93, Kathrene<br />

Tiffany ’96, Katherine McManmon ’94, Eliza Cope ’04, David Wilson ’06,<br />

Eliza’s college friend, Shanti Serdy ’87 and her two children, Shira ’18,<br />

and Seth. Bottom row: Nina Frusztajer ’79 and her three children,<br />

Hugo, Camilla, and Zeno.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 45


This fall, he will start a two-year master’s<br />

program in New Orleans at the<br />

Stone Center, one of the top Latin<br />

American Studies centers in the U.S.,<br />

where he received a Dept. of Education<br />

Foreign Language Area Studies<br />

grant. Alex Lebow wrote to let us<br />

know that he is spending the next<br />

two years in New Orleans teaching<br />

high school English through Teach<br />

for America. We learned that Dan<br />

Resnick Ault graduated from Brown<br />

this spring with honors in his two<br />

majors: Hispanic studies and human<br />

biology. After taking a year off, he<br />

will stay in Providence for medical<br />

school as part of Brown’s Program in<br />

Liberal Medical Education. Pearson<br />

Smith recently moved to Lander,<br />

Wyoming, and is working in the marketing<br />

department at the National<br />

Outdoor Leadership <strong>School</strong>. Pearson<br />

says, “Having entered one of the<br />

most beautiful towns bordered by the<br />

Wind River Range, I have taken to<br />

Dan Resnick Ault spent the fall of his<br />

junior year in Madrid, where, in<br />

addition to courses, he interned in<br />

the neonatal intensive care unit of<br />

El Hospital La Moraleja in Madrid.<br />

rock climbing and spend most weekends<br />

at the endless rock climbing<br />

walls that Lander provides.” Julia<br />

Spiro spent the summer in Los Angeles,<br />

where she interned at New Line<br />

Cinema and at a production company<br />

called Temple Hill Entertainment.<br />

“I’m working really hard and so far<br />

it’s been a challenging and rewarding<br />

experience.” Julia loves California and<br />

plans on moving there after graduating<br />

from Harvard next year. “I hope<br />

to pursue a career in film production<br />

and development.”<br />

2003<br />

Class Representative:<br />

Diana Rutherford<br />

drutherford@berklee.net<br />

2004<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Steven Fox<br />

Steven.fox@richmond.edu<br />

Molly Lebow<br />

mlebow@tulane.edu<br />

2005<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Lily Bullitt<br />

Lily_bullitt@yahoo.com<br />

Ashley Sharp<br />

asharp@deerfield.edu<br />

2006<br />

Class Representative:<br />

McCall Cruz<br />

Mccall_cruz@yahoo.com<br />

C O L L E G E C H O I C E S<br />

Daphne Johnson wedding photos<br />

Felicia Aikens<br />

University of Pennsylvania<br />

Hanna Atwood Colgate University (Fall 2010)<br />

Daniel Berenson<br />

Abigail Bok<br />

Andrew Canniff<br />

Dylan Coburn<br />

Anneliese Cooper<br />

Nicholas Cox<br />

Camilla de Braganca<br />

Jolie Demuth<br />

CLASS<br />

OF<br />

Yale University<br />

Yale University<br />

Massachusetts Maritime Academy<br />

Bard College<br />

Columbia University<br />

University of Maine<br />

George Washington University<br />

Tulane University<br />

Claire DiSalvo<br />

2006<br />

Noah Donnell-Kilmer<br />

Simon Ebbott-Burg<br />

Chantal Ferguson<br />

Jason Forsyth<br />

Michael Fubini<br />

David Fuller<br />

Jonathan Getz<br />

Matthew Gorski<br />

Catherine Hoyt<br />

Louise Ireland<br />

Kevin Jiang<br />

Rachel Langer<br />

Susan Langer<br />

Madeline Levitt<br />

Boston University<br />

Occidental College<br />

College of Wooster<br />

Wesleyan University<br />

New York University<br />

Vassar College<br />

Harvard College<br />

Bryant University<br />

Haverford College<br />

Davidson College<br />

Brown University<br />

University of Chicago<br />

Denison University<br />

Cornell University<br />

Bates College<br />

Linda Li<br />

Rebecca MacRae<br />

Scott Martin<br />

Alexander Melas-Kyriazi<br />

Elizabeth Mitchell<br />

Kevin O’Block<br />

Irene Pasquale<br />

Samuel Platt<br />

Elizabeth Rappaport<br />

Samson Resnicow<br />

Charles Rugg<br />

Jessica Schlundt<br />

Alexandra Shalom<br />

Daniel Shoukimas<br />

Libby Shrobe<br />

Monica Stadecker<br />

Emma Thomas<br />

Amelia Walske<br />

Tyler Wilson<br />

David Wilson<br />

Evan Winter<br />

Georgina Winthrop<br />

Christopher Zarins<br />

Madeline Zoller<br />

Princeton University<br />

University of Michigan<br />

Claremont McKenna College<br />

Harvard College<br />

Williams College<br />

Boston College<br />

Skidmore College<br />

Northeastern University<br />

George Washington University<br />

University of Vermont<br />

Boston College<br />

Muhlenberg College<br />

University of Rochester<br />

Connecticut College<br />

Tufts University<br />

Tufts University<br />

Swarthmore College<br />

Hobart William Smith<br />

Tufts University<br />

University of Virginia<br />

Tufts University<br />

Harvard College<br />

Washington University, St. Louis<br />

New York University<br />

Please note that the above list, compiled by the Alumni Office, does not include all members of the Class of 2006. Alumni not appearing on this list are either<br />

postponing attending a college or university in the fall, or have not submitted their information to our office. Please call the Alumni Office at 617-274-6022 or email<br />

alumni@parkschool.org with any changes or additional information. Thank you.<br />

46 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


NEXT SCHOOLS FOR<br />

GRADE VIII<br />

CLASS OF 2010<br />

Departing members of the Class of 2009<br />

2007<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Thomas Cope<br />

thcope@mxschool.edu<br />

Ben Schwartz<br />

bschwartz@benlampert.com<br />

We learned that Harris Williams,<br />

a senior at Proctor Academy, has<br />

verbally committed to Stanford. <strong>The</strong><br />

6-foot-4, 291-pounder from Lynn<br />

helped lead Proctor’s football team<br />

to an 8-1 season and a berth in the<br />

DelPrete-<strong>The</strong>obold Bowl. “A lot of<br />

schools were interested in him,”<br />

said coach Chuck Reid. “But to be<br />

perfectly honest, Stanford was his<br />

dream school.”<br />

2008<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Manizeh Afridi<br />

Manizeh252@yahoo.com<br />

Marielle Rabins<br />

Marielle_swin@yahoo.com<br />

Current and Former<br />

Faculty News<br />

Amy Salomon (Grade II 2001– )<br />

and her husband, Matt Deninger,<br />

welcomed daughter Norah deVore<br />

Deninger on July 10, 2009.<br />

Congratulations to Liza Talusan and<br />

Jorge Vega (Technology Specialist<br />

2005– ) on the birth of their son,<br />

Evan Eduardo Talusan Vega, born<br />

March 24, 2009.<br />

Peter Bown (Grade III 2005– ) will<br />

marry Paige Largay (sister of Brendan<br />

Largay who taught English,<br />

social studies, and drama at <strong>Park</strong><br />

from 2000–2004) on October 19,<br />

2009 in Hyannisport.<br />

Proud grandma, Emily Tucker<br />

(Math 1979–2007 and currently a<br />

tutor), happily announced the birth<br />

of her granddaughter, Delphine Virginia<br />

Tucker-Raymond, on Saturday,<br />

March 21.<br />

Caroline Ames<br />

Noah Benjamin<br />

Tyler Billman<br />

Oliver Bok<br />

Ginger Brostowski<br />

Katie Cohen<br />

Chimene Cooper<br />

Austin Drucker<br />

Charlie Feinberg<br />

Daniel Fine<br />

Vicki Garcia-Orozco<br />

Danny Getz<br />

Sage Hamilton<br />

Daniel Harris<br />

William Jundanian<br />

Tyler Kavoogian<br />

Henry Kennedy<br />

Eadie Kremer<br />

Kate Maroni<br />

Erica Mathews<br />

Luke Mathison<br />

Julia McKown<br />

Tyler Myrick<br />

Olivia Pincince<br />

Daniel Rubenstein<br />

Jonathan Sands<br />

Liza Scholle<br />

Ryan Simshauser<br />

Eve Wetlaufer<br />

Peter Woolverton<br />

Carina Young<br />

Brendan Yucel<br />

Simon Yucel<br />

Dana Hall <strong>School</strong><br />

Brookline High <strong>School</strong><br />

Milton Academy<br />

Milton Academy<br />

Dana Hall <strong>School</strong><br />

Newton North High <strong>School</strong><br />

Milton Academy<br />

<strong>The</strong> Rivers <strong>School</strong><br />

Belmont Hill <strong>School</strong><br />

Noble and Greenough <strong>School</strong><br />

Lincoln-Sudbury High <strong>School</strong><br />

Beaver Country Day <strong>School</strong><br />

Beaver Country Day <strong>School</strong><br />

Brookline High <strong>School</strong><br />

St. Sebastian’s <strong>School</strong><br />

Beaver Country Day <strong>School</strong><br />

St. Sebastian’s <strong>School</strong><br />

St. George’s <strong>School</strong><br />

Noble and Greenough <strong>School</strong><br />

Milton Academy<br />

Brookline High <strong>School</strong><br />

Milton Academy<br />

Beaver Country Day <strong>School</strong><br />

Milton Academy<br />

Milton Academy<br />

Noble and Greenough <strong>School</strong><br />

St. George’s <strong>School</strong><br />

Noble and Greenough <strong>School</strong><br />

<strong>The</strong> Masters <strong>School</strong><br />

Buckingham Browne & Nichols <strong>School</strong><br />

Milton Academy<br />

Noble and Greenough <strong>School</strong><br />

Noble and Greenough <strong>School</strong><br />

2009<br />

Class Representatives:<br />

Mercedes Garcia-Orozco<br />

Benzgirl727@aol.com<br />

Cary Williams<br />

Zocarebearzo327@aim.com<br />

Classes of<br />

2007, 2008,<br />

2009, and 2010<br />

Save <strong>The</strong> Date!<br />

Yule Festival<br />

and<br />

Bagel Breakfast<br />

Friday, December 18, 2009<br />

9:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong> dining room<br />

Former math teacher Bill Walsh’s<br />

CDs are now available on iTunes and<br />

other internet outlets. Look under<br />

Billy Walsh for some great music.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009 47


Braydon McEvoy Khanna, son of<br />

Victoria McEvoy Khanna ’89<br />

Second grade teacher Amy Salomon and husband Matt<br />

Deninger with baby Norah<br />

Kathryn Lee Calderwood, daughter of Audrey Hong<br />

Calderwood ’92<br />

Weddings<br />

1994<br />

Meryl Glassman and Peter Farland<br />

July 18, 2009<br />

1998<br />

Daphne Johnson and Brandon<br />

Berger<br />

June 6, 2009<br />

Arrivals<br />

1977<br />

Holli Lopatowski and Stephen<br />

Thomas<br />

Kaden Allen Thomas<br />

June 23, 2009<br />

1984<br />

David McNally and Cynthia Pierce<br />

Alison Ginger McNally<br />

August 6, 2008<br />

1989<br />

Gautam Khanna and Victoria<br />

McEvoy Khanna<br />

Braydon McEvoy Khanna<br />

Rebecca Lewin Scott and Jordan<br />

Scott<br />

Charlotte Eloise Scott<br />

April 22, 2009<br />

1992<br />

Michael Calderwood and Audrey<br />

Hong Calderwood<br />

Kathryn Lee Calderwood<br />

June 23, 2009<br />

In Memoriam<br />

Joan Ryerson Brewster<br />

July 22, 2009<br />

Mother of Galen Brewster ’59 and<br />

Donald Brewster ’60<br />

Jonathan K. Bynoe<br />

August 13, 2009<br />

Father of Jim Bynoe ’74 and Kevin<br />

Bynoe ’77<br />

Gabriel Feld ’00<br />

April 24, 2009<br />

Peter P. Gudas, Jr.<br />

July 17, 2009<br />

Father of Christopher Gudas ’94<br />

Bill McCarthy<br />

September 15, 2009<br />

Husband of former Lower Division<br />

teacher Heather McCarthy<br />

Jim McDonald<br />

September 13, 2009<br />

Father of Isabel McDonald ’09<br />

Anne Shepley ’45<br />

July 16, 2009<br />

Sister of Henry “Dick” Shepley ’33,<br />

Hayden Shepley ’36, the late Robert<br />

Shepley ’39, and Hugh Shepley ’42.<br />

Cousin of Joan Dunphy ’44, aunt of<br />

Julia Shepley Cohen ’69, and great<br />

aunt of Eleanor Shepley ’05 and Julia<br />

Shepley ’07<br />

Bob Sturgis ’53<br />

February 13, 2009<br />

Charlie Thomas<br />

March 10, 2009<br />

Father of Linda Thomas Terhune ’76<br />

and Steven Thomas ’76<br />

William Wolbach<br />

June 23, 2009<br />

Father of “B” Wolbach ’61, and<br />

Josephine W. Devlin ’65, and grand -<br />

father of Luke Wolbach ’85, Ben<br />

Wolbach ’90, and Anna Wolbach ’93<br />

Kenneth Wolman and Sarah<br />

Wolman<br />

Jack Benjamin Wolman Levine<br />

April 16, 2009<br />

Mary Greene Nelson<br />

April 15, 2009<br />

Faulkner Society member and Grandmother<br />

of Mollie Nelson Webster ’91<br />

1985<br />

John and Jessie Howland Cahill<br />

Sarah Louise Cahill<br />

December 10, 2008<br />

1988<br />

Andrew and Liza Cohen Gates<br />

Oliver and Isabelle Gates<br />

April 1, 2009<br />

Ellen Revelle<br />

May 6, 2009<br />

Mother of former Parents’ Association<br />

president Mary Revelle Paci and<br />

grandmother of Christopher Paci ’74,<br />

Stefano Paci ’77, and Myra Paci ’80<br />

George Rowe<br />

February 12, 2009<br />

Grandfather of George Rowe ’16<br />

48 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Bulletin | Fall 2009


We are assembling a farewell album to commemorate<br />

Nancy Faulkner’s remarkable career at <strong>Park</strong>. Please send a note<br />

with your reflections and recollections about Nancy<br />

by November 1, 2009. Pictures are welcome, too. Thank you!<br />

Album for Nancy Faulkner<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong>, 171 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445


<strong>The</strong> <strong>Park</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />

171 Goddard Avenue<br />

Brookline, Massachusetts 02445<br />

Change service requested<br />

Non-Profit Organization<br />

U.S. Postage<br />

P A I D<br />

Boston, Massachusetts<br />

Permit No. 55643<br />

Moved Moving<br />

Please notify <strong>Park</strong> of addressee’s current address, as the Bulletin and other bulk mailings are not forwarded by the Post Office.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!