By Lauren Henry '99 - The Taft School

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S P O T L I G H TMolly Williams, EnglishWorking to become an Outward Bound instructor in herown right, Molly writes about the struggles and rewards ofthose six weeks:“The pass was named ‘I Want My Mommy,’ but its steepand threatening 1,000-feet cliffs were dwarfed by the 14,000-feet peaks surrounding it. Sharp crags bit into the pre-dawnsky and icy winds snaked through the towering boulders. Armedonly with ice-axes and bellies full of oatmeal, my OutwardBound group steeled itself to attempt its fourth summit in 24hours. We trudged, we shimmied, we bouldered, we crawledand eventually we pulled ourselves up, hand over hand, to thetop of the pass. One hour until dawn and the race to the summit—oneof the highest in Colorado—was on.“There were times during my course when I thought Iwouldn’t make it. Like when the group tried to slow me downby loading me up with an 80-pound pack, or when we didn’teat for three days, or when I dislocated my shoulder on a snowclimb and had to throw it back in Mel Gibson style. And therewere times when I just didn’t want to make it: didn’t want toemerge from my warm cocoon of a sleeping bag, didn’t wantto eat Ramen when there was a hamburger joint only 50 milesaway, didn’t want to cooperate with the group.“But those times were few and far between. And everysecond in between was worth it. All those seconds filled withpride, wonder, strength, comradeship, rejuvenation, silliness,compassion, and joy—they were worth it.“A ray of light—the first of the morning—glanced off anearby peak and fell upon the upturned and expectant facesof my group’s members. Vibrantly pink and terribly bright,the sun introduced itself once again to the peaks of the ColoradoRockies. But we had beaten it, we had beaten the sun,and were already situated at the summit, cuddled togethernot only for warmth, but to share the communion and joythat we so much deserved.”Michael Spencer, ChaplainIn addition to teaching public speaking at theTaft Summer School, Michael received a grantfrom the Council for Spiritual and EthicalEducation to write an extensive curriculumon Applied Ethics based on the course hetaught last semester with Jan Tanner (an adjunctprofessor of applied ethics at FairfieldUniversity—Jan and Michael were classmatesat Yale). It is being published by CSEE thisfall. Twenty-five other independent schoolshave already ordered copies of the curriculumto institute in their academic programs.This opportunity spreads the word that Taftis increasingly becoming committed to theteaching of ethics, both as an individualcourse, but more importantly as an integralaspect of the entire curriculum.Along with Elson Liu, Michael receiveda summer grant from Taft to develop a websiteto support spiritual life at the school. It includesinformation on local services, servicesoffered at school this year (Vespers, TuesdayReflection, Sunday worship), community service,and the Spiritual Life Committee.And finally, Amy and Michael tooktime off in August to spend with their newson, Aidan.Paul Nanian and Garrett Forbes, ChemistryPaul and Garrett wrote eight chaptersof a chemistry book that is beingused for the Chemistry in Contextcourse this year. It is part of a curriculumthey’ve been developing overthe past few years.On another note, Paul hikedthe Long Trail in Vermont in 16days. Starting at the Vermont/Massachusettsborder near WilliamsCollege , the trail ends at the Canadianboarder near Troy, Vermont(about 270 miles). “It was a blast,”said Paul.Paul Nanian demonstrates the conductivity of sodium metal for the new textbookhe and Garrett Forbes worked on last summer.W. T. Miller, FrenchThis year for the first time, Taft ran a summer school program in France,which WT organized and directed. “We had nine students, all from Taft,on a five-week séjour in Nantes. I housed the kids in families while givingthem classes three hours a day in the morning. We took field trips to theWW II landing sights (Omaha Beach etc.) as well as to the chateaux of theLoire and, of course, Paris. The trip was a great success and will be offeredagain next summer.”16 Fall 1999
S P O T L I G H TSteve McKibben, EnglishOver the summer Steve and his wife, Andrea, spent six weeks in England workingfor Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English at Lincoln College, Oxford,as assistants to the director. “We received our master’s degrees in 1991 fromBread Loaf, and this was the third summer we worked at the Oxford campus (wewere students there in 1990). Afterward, we backpacked and camped for twoweeks in Iceland, visiting the fjords just south of the Arctic Circle and the glaciersin the southeast part of the island.”Laura Erickson, BiologyOnce again, Laura spent most of hersummer working with the Taft EducationalCenter. This year, however,she graduated from the role of studentto that of teacher. “I taught the APBiology two-week workshop. The increasein work was exponential at theinstructor’s level. It is always enrichingto spend time with other teachersin my area, and I really believe Ilearned almost as much from my ‘students’as they did from me. I have beenable to integrate this new knowledgeinto my AP course this year.”Jenny GlennWuerker ’83, ArtSteve McKibben and his wife, former faculty member Andrea Baier, spent part of thesummer backpacking and camping in Iceland. Here, they are positioned between ahuge glacier and a barren lava field.Steven Laufer, PhysicsSteve spent the month of August in Eastern Europe. “I went to Greece andIstanbul with my family and saw the total solar eclipse from the Black Sea.Then I went backpacking for ten days in Germany, the Czech Republic,Hungary, and Poland.”Jenny returned to Wyoming last summerto paint(see cover photo). “Each summerfor the past six years, Aaron and I haveheaded west to work on a series of Westernlandscape paintings. This year Tafthelped defray a portion of my costs witha Summer Study grant. I paint only onlocation, directly from observation, evenwhen working on my larger canvases. Weown a place in the foothills of the BighornMountains, south of Buffalo, WY,and for the last four years I have workedhere painting the expanse of nature.Aaron and I both have work presentlyexhibited at Montana Trails gallery inBozeman, MT.”Lance Odden, Mike Maher, Jean Piacenza ’75Lance Odden, Mike Maher, and Jean Piacenza attended a conference at Middlebury College on the topic of “binge”drinking. The keynote speaker, Dr. Henry Wechsler, Ph.D., from Harvard University, presented the findings of his recentlycompleted survey of over 14,000 students on drinking and its consequences for college students.The conference was designed to begin effective dialogue between high school teachers and administrators about waysto educate and support students to make healthy decisions concerning their use of alcohol. The headmaster, along withdean of students Mike Maher and school counselor Jean Piacenza, developed ideas from the conference that are reflected innew policies and programming at Taft. Middlebury’s director of health services will deliver a presentation to Taft studentsand faculty this winter designed to teach college freshmen about images and advertising associated with alcohol use.Taft Bulletin 17
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By Lauren Henry '99 - The Taft School

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