Spring Bulletin 2012 - The Park School

The Park School
Spring Bulletin 2012

Board of Trustees 2011–12
Officers
Suzie Tapson Chair
Paula A. Johnson Vice Chair
Lee Englert Secretary
John Connaughton Treasurer
David Ball ’85
Marcus Cherry
Vincent Chiang
Atul Dhir
Lisa Black Franks ’78
Edward Johnson IV
Heidi Johnson
Brian Kavoogian
Patti Kraft
Anne Punzak Marcus
Stuart Mathews
Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86
Anne Mitchell
Peter Riehl
Happy Rowe
Caroline Schernecker
Garrett Solomon ’86
Dana Weiss Smith
Lanny Thorndike ’81
Ralph L. Wales
Ex Officio
Jerrold I. Katz
Head of School
Kimberly Boyd
Assistant Head for Finance & Operations
Cynthia A. Harmon
Assistant Head for Program &
Professional Development
Board Chairs Emeriti
Kennett F. Burnes
David D. Croll
Charles C. Cunningham, Jr.
George P. Denny III
David G. Fubini
M. Dozier Gardner
John L. Hall II
Kevin J. Maroni
J. Michael Maynard
Anne Worthington Prescott
Deborah Jackson Weiss
Headmaster Emeritus
Robert S. Hurlbut, Jr.
Alumni Committee 2011–12
Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93 Co-Chair
Kathrene B. Tiffany ’96 Co-chair
Diego Alvarado ’01
Minnie Ames ’86
John Barkan ’85
Peter Barkan ’86
Bob Bray ’53
Spencer Bush-Brown ’00
Emily Potts Callejas ’89
Gregory T. Cope ’71
Tenney Mead Cover ’76
Lilla Curran ’95
Melissa Deland ’95
Sara Leventhal Fleiss ’95
David Glynn ’91
Abigail Ross Goodman ’91
Anne Collins Goodyear ’84
Jennifer Segal Herman ’82
Gregory Kadetsky ’96
Bob Kenerson ’53
Rich Knapp ’90
Amy Lampert ’63
Abbott Lawrence ’85
Eve Wadsworth Lehrman ’95
Nia Lutch ’97
Melissa Daniels Madden ’85
Allison Morse ’89
Chip Pierce ’81
Meredith J. Ross ’86
Alison Epker Ruch ’89
Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89
Jordan Scott ’89
Alyssa Burrage Scott ’92
Sarah Shoukimas ’97
Garrett J. Solomon ’86
Thacher Tiffany ’93
Laura Church Wilmerding ’84
Phoebe Gallagher Winder ’84
Cover artwork: Spring Flowers. Oil pastels on paper by Chloë LeStage ’13
Spring Bulletin 2012
Editor
Kate LaPine
Design
Irene Chu
Photography
Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98
Flo Farrell
Kate LaPine
Printing
Jaguar Press
The Bulletin is published twice yearly
for the alumni, parents, and friends of
The Park School. We welcome your
comments and ideas.
The Park School
171 Goddard Avenue
Brookline, Massachusetts 02445
To contact the Bulletin:
Kate LaPine
Director of Communications
617-274-6009
kate_lapine@parkschool.org
To report alumni news:
Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98
Director of Alumni Relations
617-274-6022
alumni@parkschool.org
To make a gift to Park:
Beatrix Sanders
Director of Development
617-274-6020
bea_sanders@parkschool.org
To report address changes:
Sarah Braga
Development Office Manager
617-274-6018
development@parkschool.org
Park is a coeducational school that
admits qualified students without
regard to race, religion, national
origin, disabilities, sexual orientation,
or family composition. Our educational
policies, financial aid, and
other school-sponsored programs
are administered in a nondiscriminatory
manner in conformance with
applicable law.

Dear Friends,
In this issue of the Bulletin,
we take a look at Park’s foreign
language program both in the
classroom and on the annual
Grade IX trips to Spain, France,
and Italy. This winter, I put out
the call to Park alumni, asking
for linguists, translators, and
anyone who communicates in
languages other than English.
In the following pages, we
feature seven alums whose
lives are intertwined with other
tongues — from Ancient Greek
to Japanese.
Around campus, we’re busy
with the search for Park’s next
Head of School. On the following
page, Search Committee
Chair Lanny Thorndike ’81
brings the Park community upto-date
with the search process.
And, at the back of this issue,
we learn about the School’s
new strategic plan, “Park21.”
Best wishes for the spring from
all of us at Park,
Kate LaPine
Editor
The Park School
Spring Bulletin 2012
In this issue:
2 Head of School Search Update
Q&A with Lanny Thorndike ’81, Search Committee Chair
3 Park21: A Strategic Plan for The Park School
7 Learning Language at The Park School
by Kate LaPine, Director of Communications
14 Grade IX: Studying Language at Its Source
by Paula Ivey Henry, Park Parent Editorial Board
16 Alumni Linguists
Méli Solomon ’75
Tracy Slater ’82
Lily Davis ’94
Freddy Deknatel ’00
Benjamin Stevens ’00
Caitlin Truesdale Dick ’01
Bassil Bacare ’11
29 Alumni Notes
41 Remembering Harry Groblewski

Q. Who is leading the search process?
The Board of Trustees is responsible for selecting
and hiring Park’s next Head of School and
created a Search Committee to facilitate the
search process. The Committee has trustee,
faculty, parent, and alumni representatives,
and brings a breadth and depth of perspectives
as well as a passion for The Park School.
You can read brief bios about all of us on the
website: www.parkschool.org/headsearch.
Q. What is the role of the Search
Committee?
The Search Committee directs the search
process from start to finish. Our job is
to coordinate input from Park’s varied
constituencies, work to craft the Position
Description, sort through the initial round of
candidates vetted by the search firm, and
organize and conduct interviews with the
semifinalists and finalists. At the end of the
process, the Search Committee will present
one broadly supported candidate to be
confirmed by the Board of Trustees.
Throughout the search process, we want to
keep the Park community informed and
engaged, while respecting the confidentiality
of the candidate recruitment process.
An Update on the
Head of School Search Process
with Lanny Thorndike ’81,
Search Committee Chair
Lanny, a Trustee and alumnus, is — together with his wife,
Anne — also the parent of two current Park students,
Russell (Grade IV) and Anna (Grade VIII,) and one alumnus,
James, a member of Park’s Class of 2011.
Q. How did Park choose the search firm?
Recognizing that selecting our next leader is a
critical milestone for the School, we solicited
requests for proposals from several leading
search firms in the summer of 2011. Following
an extensive review process, the Search
Committee selected Carney, Sandoe & Associates
(CS&A) to serve as consultants in this
search. CS&A is a leader in recruiting heads
at independent schools around the country,
and we are excited to be working with this
renowned search firm. Aggie Underwood,
our lead consultant, is Vice President and
Managing Associate of the firm and was
Head of School at National Cathedral School
and Garrison Forest School. Her Senior Search
Associate colleague Chuck Burdick has 38
years of experience in five NAIS schools,
including 19 years at Milton Academy. Aggie
and Chuck spent two days on campus in
February, learning more about what makes
Park “Park” in individual and group interviews.
I think this immersion visit will make
them terrific advocates for the School as they
meet with candidates.
Q. How is the search progressing?
I am thrilled with the amazing community
input we have received to date. We had 597
2 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
respondents to our online survey in Feb ruary,
which exceeded our initial goal of 400.
Thanks to everyone who participated! All of
these responses help paint an accurate picture
of both the School’s culture and the
important characteristics and skills that Park’s
next Head of School will need to possess.
As you might expect, some trends did
emerge from the questionnaire results. The
Park community values the exceptional quality
of teaching and the low faculty/student
ratios, and we want Park’s next leader to
introduce innovative thinking while bringing
real passion for elementary education. This
feedback helped us create the Position
Description that you can see on our website
(parkschool.org/headsearch) and are sending
out to potential candidates.
Together with the search consultants,
the Search Committee has finalized a job
description and has begun spreading the
word to qualified candidates across the
United States. Already, we’ve received more
than 100 inquiries about the position. Its
reassuring to know that Park is so wellregarded
in terms of the quality of our faculty
and staff, curriculum, multiculturalism, strategic
initiatives, financial aid and resources —
we enter this search in an enviable position.
Q. What’s next?
This spring, the search process goes into
a “quiet phase,” where CS&A and the
Committee will review resumes and select
appropriate candidates to advance to the
next stage. In the summer and early fall, a
handful of semifinalists will visit the Park
campus for tours and interviews. Our goal is
to announce Park’s next Head of School in
November 2012. He or she would begin
on July 1, 2013.
Q. Anything else you’d like to add?
We will continue to keep the Park community
informed about the search process on
the school website: www.parkschool/
headsearch. And, if anyone has any questions,
comments or suggestions about the
search process, or would like to suggest a
candidate for Head of School, please feel free
to contact me directly at
headsearch@parkschool.org.

“PARK21”: A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE PARK SCHOOL
Following the success of the Foundations
for the Future capital campaign, which
closed in June 2010, the Board of Trustees
launched a new strategic planning process
in September 2010. This article outlines
the exciting new plan that has evolved
from that process and is now underway.
Why does the School need a bold
new strategic plan?
It’s true that Park is in an enviable position
today: demand for admission is strong; our
secondary school placements never looked
better; we are a national leader among elementary
independent schools in faculty compensation,
financial aid, and professional
development; and our last capital campaign
facilitated a major renovation and expansion
of our facilities.
When we look beyond Goddard Avenue
however, the world around us is changing and
our understanding of teaching and learning is
changing along with it. Today’s children need
to process more information at a greater and
greater pace; they are likely to change jobs
and even careers multiple times in their lifetimes;
and they will need to be able to adopt,
access, and utilize a constantly changing set of
new technologies throughout their lives. These
new expectations will require Park students to
be more adaptable, innovative, collaborative,
inquisitive, and entrepreneurial.
Park is determined to thoughtfully
embrace the innovations of the 21st century
in order to remain a leader in Pre-K–IX independent
schools. We must ensure that, over
the years ahead, our program provides our
graduates with the knowledge, skills, and
habits of mind they will need to be leaders in
an increasingly connected world. Thus, in September
2010, The Park School embarked on a
strategic planning process to guide the longterm
vision for the School.
After more than a year of conversation,
research, and benchmarking, the Board of
Trustees identified strategic priorities that will
shape the School’s focus for the next 5–7
years. This strategic plan, entitled “Park21”,
recognizes that Park’s curriculum needs to
embrace the best practices and innovations of
the 21st century, while keeping and nurturing
the special qualities that make our School a
uniquely wonderful place for children to grow
and learn.
What parts of the plan are
already underway?
While the goal is to raise funding to permanently
endow all of the components of the
Park21 plan, a portion of early gifts has been
allocated to launch the following initiatives:
1. The Peter Amershadian Faculty
Leadership Grant Program
Park has designed a new program to give
selected teachers the possibility to apply
for grants that will provide them with opportunities
for growth and leadership, while
simultaneously furthering important initiatives
for the School.
True to the spirit of teaching excellence
that Peter Amershadian embodied in his 23
years in the classroom, the Peter Amershadian
Faculty Leadership Program will enable Park
teachers to look outside Park’s walls, wherever
excellent teaching is taking place, to find, to
study, to understand, and to bring back to
Park classrooms the most compelling ideas
about teaching and learning.
Initial funding was available this year for
two teams of teachers to be awarded leadership
grants of $10,000 per person in order to
do 30 additional days of work throughout the
year toward a specific project for Park. Each
leadership team will have access to an additional
$2,500 per person for travel to attend
national or international conferences and/or
to visit other schools. Eventually, this program
will fund FOUR teams of teachers each year,
and the full program will be funded through
endowment.
Eager to improve their craft and improve
the School, five thoughtful and ambitious proposals
were submitted by teams of Park faculty.
After careful deliberation, an ad hoc
committee selected two teams as recipients
for the 2012–13 academic year:
• Grade II teacher Kat Callard and Modern
Language Department Chair Alan Rivera
will consider “Equity, Justice, and World
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 3

Park21 Plan Summary
Park21 identifies strategic priorities that will shape the
School’s focus for the next 5-7 years. For the School to
remain a leader in academics and program, we must invest
resources today so that we can embrace the best practices
and innovations of 21st century learning. The goal is 1) to
raise funding to permanently endow all of the components
of the Park21 plan and 2) to increase the School’s ability
to add additional physical space by acquiring an adjacent
piece of property. In addition to the specific programs
outlined below, the spirit of Park21 will permeate the entire
curriculum. Every child will deepen 21st century skills such
as technology literacy, public speaking, teamwork and
collaboration, and comfort with an inquiry-based approach
to learning.
Awareness for the 21st Century Learner;”
and
• Grade III colleagues Jen Riley and Peter
Bown will research “Best Practices for
Supervising and Evaluating 21st Century
Teachers.”
By the end of next year, Park students will
surely benefit from our teachers bringing
“the most compelling ideas about teaching
and learning” into our classrooms.
2. Renewed Focus on Science; Expansion
of Engineering in the Science Curriculum
After nearly two years, Park is nearing completion
of a top-to-bottom review of its
science program. “We knew we had to take
a close look at our curriculum,” Karen
Manning, Chair of the Science Department,
explains, “because American students consistently
perform below their peers from other
developed countries in math and science.”
According to Karen, a desired outcome of
this program review is to “make The Park
School a leader among its peer schools in
science and technology.”
The strategic plan also calls for Park to
introduce more engineering-based skills into
our science curriculum. To that end, last
spring Park introduced a robotics pilot in
Grades VI and VIII with a phenomenal
response. In problem-solving pairs, students
were challenged to design, build and test
their very own robot vehicle — using laptops,
Lego robot kits, and science journals with
graphing paper for recording data – skills
which are foundational to engineering and
the development of broader problem-solving.
At the end of the unit, the student pairs
“raced” their creations – a video is available
on Park’s website: URL
All of Park’s science teachers participated
in training through Tufts University to learn
how to implement the robotics unit with
middle school students. The goal is to include
some aspect of robotics at every grade level.
In order to continue to provide the best level
of science education, Karen concludes, “We
must stay abreast of the current research and
practices in science education. We will have
to continuously tweak and adjust our curriculum
to meet the ever-changing needs of our
students as they prepare for the continuing
learning of the 21st century.”
3. Embracing New Technology Tools for
Better Pedagogy at Park
Over the past 15–20 years, the introduction
of new technologies has created many chal-
4 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
NEW CAPABILITIES FOR TEACHERS
• Creation of the Peter Amershadian Faculty Leadership
Grant — Named to honor one of Park’s most accomplished and
beloved teachers, this program provides resources for teachers to
do a substantial amount of additional work outside the school
year to identify best practices and advance a specific programmatic
area that has been deemed a priority for the School.
• Addition of a Faculty Coach to the Park faculty — enabling Park
teachers to benefit from the observation, collaboration and feedback
of a coach, to better their teaching skills and to help them
implement new ideas in the classroom.
• Further expansion of faculty Professional Development, specifically
around Park21 initiatives, to allow teachers to incorporate
best practices in math, science, technology, globalism, faculty
evaluation, and 21st century skills.
We visited Grade VI science teacher and Chair of
the Science Department Karen Manning last spring
as she launched the robotics unit: “Your mission,”
she directed her class, “is to create a robot which
will travel the exact distance between the black line
and the green line — without overshooting the
green line. GO!”
lenges to address in our work with children
for us as educators and parents, among
them: safety, privacy, access, and information
overload. There also have been several waves
of excitement about the capacity of each new
technology tool to transform teaching and
learning.
At Park, all three divisions are exploring
how to use technology as a tool to expand
and deepen the learning experience for Park
students. Our efforts are guided by the belief
that technology has the capacity to make
learning more engaging, more collaborative,
and more connected. Furthermore, we see

21ST CENTURY LEARNING
• Greater focus on Math — including a full review of the math
curriculum, a special focus on the Middle Division years, and
finding the best ways to make our math program challenging
to all levels of learners.
• Greater focus on Science — undergoing a full curricular review,
giving Middle Division students more time in science, and
adding more engineering to our program.
• Technology — The use and adoption of technology runs
underneath every other piece of this plan. Park strives to be a
faster adopter of new technology, and to use new tools to
expand and enhance pedagogy at Park.
• Creating Global Citizenship through expanded Community
Service — Park seeks to expand our community service program,
charting a Pre-K–IX arc of activity and learning which
will help our students be better global citizens.
strong evidence that technology has the
capacity to enable students with differing skill
levels, learning styles, and interests to take
more control over their learning experiences.
For example, even though students may be in
the same class with the same teacher, students
with different skill levels can use technological
tools to control the pace at which
they stay at a certain level or “graduate” to
the next level of a unit of study.
Raymond Stewart, Park’s new Director
of Information Technology, is currently guiding
new initiatives in each of our divisions
as follows:
ACQUISITION OF LAND
• In the Lower Division, creating a ubiquitous
technology solution for each
Grade K–II classroom, including LCD projectors
and whiteboards, enabling teachers
to incorporate more classroom-based
presentations and interactive activities.
• In the Middle Division, implementing a
“stay-at-school” iPad pilot, where each
student in Grade III will receive an iPad,
preloaded with applications in support of
ongoing instruction in language arts,
math, and social studies. This is a test to
gauge whether the use of the iPad as
• Acquire eight adjoining acres of land, so that the School will be
able to respond to the physical needs of innovations as they
surface over the course of the years ahead.
a platform significantly improves our
students’ abilities to absorb and manipulate
new information and to achieve
new learning.
• In the Upper Division, focusing on on-line
and “cloud-based” tools (Jing, Moodle,
Google Docs, etc.) that enable students to
demonstrate mastery in new ways, while
facilitating more and better collaboration
with teachers on homework assignments,
papers and exams.
Park has many more plans which will be
thoughtfully piloted, tested, and implemented
in the coming year.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 5

4. Introducing The Faculty Coach
Great teachers look for and crave feedback
from their peers and colleagues. It is a necessary
part of the continuous process to
improve and better their craft. Moreover, as
the Park21 initiatives encourage more Park
teachers to look outward and seek out best
practices, a “master teacher” can collaborate
with teachers back in the classroom to implement
those new ideas. Taking our cue from
several schools across the nation that have
incorporated a full-time faculty coach, Park
recognizes the incredible value this will bring
to the Park faculty. In his 2011 New Yorker
article, “Personal Best,” Atul Gawande
reminds us, “There was a moment in sports
when employing a coach was unimaginable
— and then came a time when not doing
so was unimaginable. We care about results
in sports, and if we care half as much about
results in schools…. we may reach the same
conclusion.”
Over the past three years, Park has
engaged educational consultant Pamela
Penna to instruct the faculty in “differentiated
instruction,” which has been very well
received. Next year, in 2012–13, Park is
pleased to invite Pamela to join the faculty
two days a week as a comprehensive faculty
coach and mentor. As funds are raised for
Park21, our goal is to endow a full-time
faculty coach position at Park.
The Park21 strategic plan calls for
the purchase of adjoining property.
Why does Park need more land?
While Park’s 26-acre campus is sufficient for
today’s 560 students, the School must to
have the ability to respond to future program-
matic needs and to add physical spaces that
those programmatic improvements will
require. Currently, due to the Town of Brookline’s
restrictions on construction to acreage
ratios (called “F.A.R.”), Park has nearly maximized
the physical square footage allowed
on our 26-acre campus. If, in the future, the
Board of Trustees wants to add new structures
or even add to the existing building in
any way, the School would have to obtain
more acreage to maintain the required F.A.R.
ratio. Thankfully, Park has been given the
exclusive option to purchase eight adjoining
acres of land, which abuts the campus behind
the main building. Given the rarity of adjacent
property in this section of Brookline, the
School is extremely grateful for this unique
opportunity. Part of the Park21 plan includes
the purchase of this property, so that the
School will be able to respond to the physical
needs of program innovations as they surface
over the course of the next 5, 10, 25, or
100 years.
So, why does Park need a bold new
strategic plan in 2012?
Because offering exactly the same learning
experiences in 2016 that we offered in 2006
or even 2010 would not be good enough for
our students, their families, our faculty, or our
alumni who are proud of Park’s role as a
leader among independent schools. Over the
School’s history, Park has achieved recognition
6 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
by continuing to push to be better and better.
Each of the strategic initiatives in the Park21
plan is intended to make Park more “forward-looking,”
more “outward-looking,” and
a constantly improving center for learning.
New initiatives in program are essential
to keep our 123-year-old institution current.
Yet, even as we embrace innovation and
change, it is important to note that our
strategic plan reaffirms core values that have
been Park’s “trademark” for many years:
fostering a love of learning in our students;
celebrating a commitment to diversity as
an essential component of an excellent education;
and giving our students the strongest
skills, values, and academic foundation
they will need to be leading global citizens
in an increasingly-connected world.
Interested in learning more?
Please contact Bea Sanders, director
of development, at 617-274-6020 or
bea_sanders@parkschool.org.

�
Liga Aldins
French and Spanish
In her 34 years at Park, Liga has
worn many hats. In 1977, she
began as a Nursery teacher (coteaching
with Andrew Segar),
taught library classes to Park’s
youngest students, worked as a
secondary school counselor for
Grades VI and VIII, and helped
Comfort Cope with the student
community service organization,
Helping Hand. Since 1981, Liga
has donned a French chapeau,
adding a sombrero in 1991,
when the School added Spanish
to the curriculum. In the ensuing
years, Liga has enjoyed organizing
and chaperoning ninth grade
trips to France and Spain, as well
as her longtime role as a Grade
VI advisor. Liga, who hails from
Latvia, earned a BA and MA in
French at Tufts University. She
also studied for a year in Paris at
the Sorbonne University. During a
sabbatical year, the Aldins family
lived in Riga, Latvia, where Liga
taught French and English.
“Park’s program is very
intentional. Every student
in a sixth grade language
classroom is starting from
zero, so every piece is
dissected and taught.”
8 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
WHY BEGIN IN GRADE VI?
hile numerous studies indicate that very
W young children can learn to speak foreign
languages easily in a bilingual or immersion environment,
typical language programs for elementary
school students offer only one or two hours
of class per week. Students do become familiar
with vocabulary and may pick up the accent
from years of exposure, but are not really further
ahead of Park students who begin in Grade VI.
Alan explains, “Many programs, and particularly
immersion programs, avoid teaching grammar
altogether. While there certainly are advantages
to those kinds of programs, they often assume
children will figure out grammatical structures as
they would in their first language. Unfortunately,
that is not always the case with second language
learning.”
Kathy Come, who joined Park’s Modern
Language Department in September, agrees, saying,
“I came from a school that pretty much did
that. The students started Spanish in Kindergarten,
but never learned any grammar because it
was supposed to happen naturally. I think it’s a
lovely idea, but being in a classroom is not the
same as being immersed in a culture and learning
the language.” “In fact,” Liga Aldins points out,
“Sometimes we get kids who speak Spanish at
home but have never been taught any of the formal
rules or parts of speech. So, they are on equal

footing conjugating verbs with their classmates
who are learning the language for the first time.”
Maria Alvarez adds, “Park’s program is very
intentional. Every student in a sixth grade language
classroom is starting from zero, so every
piece is dissected and taught.”
HISTORY
or most of Park’s 123 years, students learned
F
French and Latin. The 1910 catalogue indicates
that French was required of all students
in Grades V and above. Younger children (in
Kindergarten through Grade IV) could study the
language for an additional $25 per year.
The status quo prevailed for nearly a century.
In 1990, then Headmaster Bob Hurlbut
announced that after nearly twenty years of
debate, the School would add Spanish to the curriculum
the following academic year. Why had it
taken so long? “Historically,” Bob writes in the
April 1990 issue of The Park Parent, “the chief
bugaboo was a financial one. How could we add
a language without increasing the faculty?” With
creative brainstorming, the School managed to
overcome this and other, lesser hurdles so that all
sixth graders would now have a choice of studying
French, Latin, or Spanish. The addition of
Spanish required a more streamlined approach to
foreign language study. Beginning in the 1990–91
year, Park discontinued the honors and regular
sections of French and Latin and offered a single,
homogenized level at each grade instead. At the
same time, the Language Skills course (taken by
sixth graders deemed ‘not ready’ to study a language)
was eliminated but the content was integrated
into the Grade VI English curriculum for
all students.
Adding a third language to Park’s course
catalogue further cemented the idea of a Grade IX
language trip as an intentional component of the
curriculum. In March 1990, Greg Grote and Steve
Kellogg had taken seven Grade IX Latin students
on a 1,100-mile loop along Hadrian’s Wall to
explore England’s cultural and historical heritage,
focusing on the period of Roman occupation.
The trip was heralded a huge success and quickly
became institutionalized. A few years earlier, an
optional eighth and ninth grade French Exchange
Program with schools in LeMans and Paris had
grown so popular that it became difficult to manage
the more than 50 student travelers. In 1988,
French Department Chair Susan Coe Adams
decided to limit the trip to ninth graders. Soon
after that, the October “exchange” with students
from French schools was dropped and the trip took
on the same outline as the Latin trip — an immersion
experience for Park students in March. Park’s
first class of Spanish students journeyed to Leon,
Spain in March 1994.
Writing in The Park Parent nearly 25 years
ago, Bob Hurlbut explained that the addition of
Spanish only served to strengthen Park’s language
curriculum: “The overall goals of our foreign
language program remain the same: to provide
every Park student with a successful experience in
studying his or her first foreign language (whether
modern or classical) and to give these young
people an appreciation of a culture and language
different from their own, as they become citizens
of tomorrow’s more international and interdependent
world. “
Maria Fleming Alvarez ’81
Spanish
Maria was a Nursery student at
the “old” Park School, completing
Grades K-VI at the Goddard
Avenue campus. Ironically, as a
fifth grader, she was deemed not
ready for a second language.
Instead, she was placed into the
Language Arts class (a grammar
and vocabulary course no longer
offered), which she loved. She
went on to study both French
and Latin at Milton Academy,
spending 11th grade in France
with School Year Abroad. In college
at the University of California,
Berkeley, she picked up
Spanish and spent her junior year
in Madrid, where she met her
Spanish husband, Alfonso
Alvarez. In 1989, she earned a
MA from Middlebury College and
began teaching Spanish at
Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California.
Since arriving at Park in
2001 to teach Spanish, Maria has
added secondary school counselor,
eighth grade advisor, and
part-time archivist to her resume.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 9

Mulian Chen
Mandarin
After earning a BA in teaching
Chinese as a foreign language
from the East China Normal University
in Shanghai, Mulian
moved to Boston in 2008 to
attend a two-year master’s program
at Harvard Graduate School
of Education. Jerry Katz and then
Modern Language Department
head Peter Amershadian knew
that they had “met just the right
person to introduce Mandarin at
Park.” In September 2010,
Mulian stepped into Park’s first
classroom of Mandarin students.
In her two years on Goddard
Avenue, in addition to teaching
and serving as a sixth grade advisor,
she has been setting up the
Mandarin program and establishing
ties with our partner school,
Greentown Yuhua QinQin School
in Hangzhou.
10
Twenty years later, Head of School Jerry Katz
stressed the same need for communication and
understanding in an ever-shrinking world. Therefore,
beginning in the 2010–11 academic year,
sixth graders could also choose to study Mandarin.
“There’s no question that current and
future Park students will be living in a world
where being able to communicate successfully
across cultures and languages will be an essential
skill,” Jerry explains. “Adding Mandarin to our
program is an essential element for Park students
to be global citizens in the 21st century.”
CLASS CONTENT
our days a week, students spend 50 minutes
F
in language class with frequent homework to
reinforce the classroom learning. Students quickly
pick up on the predictable rhythm of the classes.
“Even the sixth graders begin to anticipate the
structure,” Maria Alvarez explains, “starting a new
chapter, practicing the new concept, testing how
much they’ve learned with a chapter quiz. At this
level, there’s a lot of memorization and rote learning
in all four languages.”
Modern language instruction focuses on four
basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing—all
underpinned by grammar. “Our classes
juggle all four skills, as they should, because language
learning needs to be comprehensive,” states
veteran teacher Liga Aldins. “Our programs teach
grammar explicitly because kids need to have a
foundation on which to hang everything else,”
Alan Rivera adds. Liga continues, “When I overhear
Latin kids talking about grammar, it’s a riot!
They refer to parts of speech like nobody’s business.”
Greg Grote notes, “From day one, we’re
learning grammar in Latin class. Often, Latin students
stand out and become leaders in their Eng-
lish grammar classes.” In Mandarin, Mulian Chen
explains that the sentence structure is similar to
English, which comes as a relief for beginners
who are challenged enough with learning Chinese
characters and tones.
Cultural studies are an essential component
of learning languages as well. “You cannot teach
language without incorporating culture into the
classroom,” Liga asserts. Most students are aware
that French and Spanish are spoken in Europe,
but their worldwide reach can be a real eye
opener. Sixth grade French students learn about
French place names in North America and school
life in France. In Grade VII, they are introduced
to a variety of French-speaking countries including
Francophone Africa. In Spanish, sixth graders
consider the Spanish-speaking presence in many
local Boston communities and other U.S. cities, as
well as learning about life for middle schoolers in
Puebla, Mexico, foods and traditional cooking
in Puerto Rico, and shopping in Madrid. As seventh
graders, they focus on festivals and tradi-

tional crafts in Ecuador, sports in the Dominican
Republic, travel in Argentina, and rural life in
Costa Rica. A highlight for every eighth grade
language student is a class lunch in the spring.
French students and teachers enjoy lunch at Petit
Robert Bistro, Latin students dine at Pomodoro,
Spanish students learn about the tradition of
eating tapas at Taberna de Haro in Brookline,
and beginning next year, Mandarin students will
enjoy Chinese cuisine.
Cultural studies are equally essential to
the Mandarin curriculum. Students read about
Chinese art and history and report on modern
Chinese cities as well as current events. To gain
more appreciation for Chinese holidays and celebrations,
Mulian invites Mandarin-speaking
children from the Lower and Middle Divisions
to share their experiences with her students.
Park’s Mandarin students have also been
exchanging letters with pen pals at our partner
school in Hangzhou.
In Latin, in lieu of speaking, students study
Roman civilization extensively as a component of
their language instruction. In Grade VI, students
encounter vocabulary, syntax, and grammar in
the context of Latin readings set in the town of
Pompeii during the first century A.D. Students
learn about Roman theater, slavery, and the
destruction and excavation of Pompeii. In Latin
II, they continue their study of the ancient language
within the setting of Roman Britain and
Alexandria. “A highlight for each seventh grade
Latin student,” Greg notes, “is researching and
creating a model of one of the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World.” The completed “Wonders”
are placed on display in the library for all to
admire. Eighth graders focus on Roman religion,
the Roman army, the Jewish Rebellion and
Masada, the topography of Rome, and the social
classes of Roman society. In Grade IX, students
complete the series of connected stories focusing
on life in the Roman world in the first century
A.D. and end the four-year program reading
selections of authentic Latin poetry and prose.
Greg Grote
Latin
When Greg came to Park in
1987, he taught a joint Grade VI
English/Social Studies class and
two Latin classes. The following
year, he assumed his current role
of Latin Department head, and
began crafting Park’s current
Latin curriculum. First, he consolidated
the “regular” and
“honors” sections into one
heterogeneous level per grade,
simultaneously streamlining
the assorted materials into the
Cambridge Latin course for all
four years. Then, he developed a
trip for Latin students to visit the
ancient Roman sites in England,
moving the trip to Italy in 1994.
Greg studied Latin and English at
the University of North Carolina,
where he earned an AB, and a
MA in classics from the University
of Washington. Today, he teaches
four sections of Latin and serves
as a sixth grade advisor.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 11

Alan Rivera
French and Spanish
Alan brings a passion for both
language and travel to his teaching
— selecting a new photo
each week from his personal
library of over 70,000 pictures
and asking his students, “What
do you see?” The world traveler
cites two trips from his own adolescence
as the most formative
experiences of his life: an 8-week
summer exchange to Colombia
at age 14 and a high school year
abroad in Belgium at age 16.
Since earning his BA in French
language and literature as well as
the history of art and architecture
from Tufts followed by an
Ed.M from the Harvard University
Graduate School of Education,
Alan has loved teaching and
leading student trips to France
and Spain each year. Before joining
Park’s faculty in 1998, he
taught French and Spanish at
Derby Academy for three years.
This year, in addition to his role
as a ninth grade advisor, Alan
stepped into the role of Modern
Language Department chair
when his colleague Peter Amershadian
retired in June 2011.
TEXTBOOKS & TECHNOLOGY
n 1966, French teachers Ellen Lewis and Gillian
I
Kellogg introduced the Voix et Images de France or
VIF curriculum. It used tapes, filmstrips, and all-
French instruction to let student learn French as
they learn their native tongue, first hearing, then
speaking, finally reading and writing. VIF (and
VIF ’s Monsieur and Madame Thibaut) was synonymous
with Park’s French curriculum for many
years. Nowadays, French teachers have adopted
the Discovering French textbook program, a more
modern but equally comprehensive program.
Using the ¡Avancemos! textbooks, Spanish students
learn the four basic skills: listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Likewise, in Mulian’s classes,
the HUANYING (An Invitation to Chinese) textbook
forms the core of the Mandarin program.
“We have always used an audio-visual program
to teach French and Spanish,” Liga explains.
“Where once there were filmstrips, now our laptop
computers are indispensable, as they are connected
to the projectors and audio system set up in each
room.” The faculty take advantage of excellent
multi-media and web-based tools for the teaching
and learning of languages. An example is TV5-
Monde, a French news agency that distributes
weekly newscasts for students of French. The short
French-language videos focus on current events
throughout the world and offer the students views
of contemporary issues they may not otherwise be
exposed to. They also allow students to expand
their vocabularies, listening comprehension skills,
and abilities to better understand the world they
live in. “We can expose the students to different
cultures as well as to different accents and ways of
speaking,” Kathy says, adding, “In addition to
videos, the kids have access to materials such as
newspaper articles via the Internet.”
This year, modern language teachers have also
introduced digital recorders to facilitate and
develop the students’ speaking skills. Mulian Chen,
12 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
“Collectively, Park’s language
teachers want their students to
have the sense that
the language skills they have
learned at Park are real.”
faced with the daunting task of creating a Mandarin
program from scratch, uses technology to
support students’ learning in various ways. She
uses “Quizlet,” an online learning website, to help
her students study and review vocabulary. “I create
my own set of online flashcards for each lesson
which the students can use in the classroom and at
home. I also use “Chinesepod,” a Chinese language
learning podcast, to increase students’ exposure to
Mandarin in a context other than what they learn
in the textbook. By listening to the podcast, students
also have chances to hear different accents.”
Mulian even creates a series of interactive games
and contests to serve as the Grade VI final exam
that the students “take” on the Smart Board in her
classroom. Mulian cautions, “In order to perform
well on the final, the students have to study really
hard to review what they have learned during the
entire year. It serves the same purpose as a traditional
test.”
The Latin curriculum is text-oriented, utilizing
the Cambridge Latin Course for all four years. “Now
that the classrooms are equipped with overhead
projectors,” Greg remarks, “students can analyze
grammatical structures on the SmartBoard.” He
supplements the Latin books with supporting
historical, archaeological, and reference materials
of all types.

While individual teachers certainly bring their
personalities into their classrooms, continuity
across each grade level is key, particularly in
French and Spanish. Kathy Come is pleased to be
part of a school where teachers are literally ‘on the
same page.’ “We are intentionally teaching the
same material at pretty much the same pace,” she
explains. “That’s good for the students because the
following year when they get a new teacher, he or
she knows what the kids have covered. With us, a
student in sixth grade French is prepared for any
seventh grade French class.”
OUTCOMES
very year, young alumni stopping by to visit
Etheir
language teachers remark that they are
thriving in their secondary school language classes.
Park graduates are complimented for their good
accents, good comprehension, and for being ahead
of the game in terms of vocabulary and grammar
acquisition. They test well and are placed in
advanced secondary school language classes. Liga
explains, “Typically, studying a language for four
years at Park is like two years of a high school
course. So our kids can easily go into a third year
course in their secondary schools.”
Park’s language teachers take pride in their
students’ skills in basic vocabulary, verb forms,
and grammar. “Park students accomplish a tremendous
amount meeting four times a week,” Alan
says. “By Grade VIII and IX, modern language
students have developed really wonderful accents
when speaking and reading. And when they
encounter other students in next schools, they
realize just how well prepared they are for higherlevel
study.”
Collectively, Park’s language teachers want
their students to have the sense that the language
skills they have learned at Park are real. Greg
Grote explains, “The Latin program at Park provides
students with the foundation needed to go
onto high school courses based on Latin authors.”
And, Mulian, looking forward to when her students
become eight or ninth graders, hopes they
“will feel comfortable communicating with native
Mandarin speakers in China.” Alan hopes that
Park students will have the confidence “to know
that they speak well, that they sound good, and
that someday soon, they will be asked ‘Wait, you’re
American? But you don’t have an accent! ’”
Kathy Come
Spanish
Kathy, the newest member of the
Modern Language Department,
began teaching Spanish at Park
in September 2011. The Newton
native earned a BA in psychology
at Cornell University and a MA in
Spanish language and translation
from New York University in
Madrid. In Spain, Kathy taught
English to middle school students
at the Colegio Estudio for two
years before teaching Spanish at
Trevor Day School in New York
City. In addition to imbuing a
passion for the Spanish language
and culture to her students and
colleagues, Kathy also serves as a
sixth grade advisor, and chaperoned
the ninth grade trip to
Spain this year.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 13

G R A D E I X : S T U D Y I N G L A
B Y P A U L A I V E Y H E N R Y
Park Parent Editorial Board
This article originally appeared in the September 2010 Park Parent.
“G
oing native” is a good thing. The
terra of Capri, the arome of
Provence, and clima of Salamanca
are irreproducible experiences of the original
speakers of Latin, French, and Spanish
that modern travelers can enjoy. But each
spring, Park’s ninth-graders do more.
Accompanied by Park School faculty
and staff, they travel to Italy, France,
and Spain for 10 days in March to study a
language, the verve of its culture, and
daily life in situ. Last spring, they shared
with me their enthusiasm for the opportunity
and the skill of Park administration
and faculty in creating and chaperoning
the experience.
Immersion and discovery is at the
core of this program. For Latin students,
intimate engagement in history and
archaeology brings the Classical world to
present. Their trip recreates voices and
events of Roman society with monumental
landscapes, passionate experts, and
local archives. The Spanish and French
visits include classroom and residential
experiences. Students live with local hosts
and attend intensive-language classes in
the morning, with expeditions to local
markets and sights on assignment in the
afternoon. For all, traditional craft and
cooking instruction are led in workshops,
food and comforts are local, and the
guides are teachers, professors, drivers,
business owners, artists, and other deep
lovers of the landscape and culture of
their homelands. Students’ exceptional
efforts are recorded in research projects,
travelogues, and final reports written in
their language of study. Their 2010 itineraries
were enviable.
The Spanish trip, chaperoned by
Maria Alvarez, Cynthia Harmon, and
Andrea Sparks, included 10 students. They
spoke with excitement while practicing
presentations for Morning Meeting. In
Salamanca, home of the oldest university
in Spain, they attended school. Practicing
comprehension and speaking skills, they
embarked on field trips with scavenger
hunts in markets, tours in historic centers,
and a movie dubbed in Spanish. In
Segovia, Toledo, and Avila, they explored
aqueducts, castles, and a ceramics school.
They hiked to a hermitage, rode horseback,
and learned the intricacies of cooking,
flamenco, pottery, and bookmaking
by hand. Recounting lessons learned, students
spoke of European energy use,
architecture preservation, extraordinary
chocolate, and the warmth of the people.
All spoke as if something inside them
had changed. “I feel differently about
speaking Spanish,” a student described.
“Now, I think about the speakers and the
world they live in.”
Teachers Liga Aldins and Alan Rivera
accompanied four girls to discover French
as spoken by natives. From Paris, they
14 T

N G U A G E A T I T S S O U R C E
flew to Marseilles, and drove to Aix en
Provence, where they settled into school
and home stays. Intensive language
training took them to Roman ruins,
medieval marketplaces, and local olive,
perfume, pastry, and chocolate factories.
They honed their French in host homes
and sidewalk cafes. An excursion to
Marseilles and the village of Cassis introduced
them to the diversity of French
life and the exquisite beauty of the
Mediterranean coast. An art historian
taught from Cezanne’s studio at the foot
of his oft-painted mountain; another day,
they toured papal Avignon, singing
French rhymes across the bridge. Arranging
memories in albums, they expressed
appreciation.
“The language is more useful, I can
talk more freely,” said one student. Recalling
intense preparations, another
reported, “We became specialists, which
was exciting when we got to see it with
our own eyes.”
During the Latin language trip that
one traveler described as “a history book
in action,” seven students ventured with
Greg Grote and Comfort Halsey Cope to
Italy, with stops in Sorrento, Herculaneum,
Pompeii, Capri, and Rome. Inspired by
their research, and Mr. Grote’s fascinating
compendium of field notes from travels
past, each student gave a site presentation.
Standing in a footprint of human
history, with excavating archaeologists
and ancient inscriptions as backdrop, they
exercised their knowledge of Latin and
the Classical world. Passionate guides and
patient translation brought personal histories
and remarkable events to life: Tacitus
on the emperor Tiberius in his perch at
Villa Jovis, the Pompeii of Pliny, the Rome
of Virgil, and the Pantheon of Hadrian.
“We were time travelers,” a student
mused. Another added, “We had an
extraordinary experience that is probably
very different from what our Latin classmates
next year will have had.”
Next Stop: China
The impressive success of the program,
now more than 20 years, speaks to skilled
engineering by many. Head of School
Jerry Katz credits thoughtful preparations
by faculty. Improvements are built upon
each year, including post-9/11 sensitivities
to security and more time in speaking
activities than museum tours. China now
takes its place, too, in planning for 2014.
The Mandarin experience will be modeled
after the Spanish and French trips, and
involve Park’s sister school Greentown
Yuhua Qinqin in Hangzhou, China. Park
students look forward to the adventure
for several years, and the trip is considered
so integral to Grade IX that it is
included in the tuition for the year, and
students on financial aid receive support
for the experience. It was clear from our
conversations that the students readily
learned the big lesson of immersion, but
they also reveled in the small ones. Each
laughed about the surprises and miscommunications.
Ordering without deciphering
the menu, negotiating prices with
impatient locals, getting lost, and finding
the way back through mazes in ancient
places. These, too, were gifts of cultural
contact: Growing from unexpected challenges,
traveling without parents, poor
signage. Each year, ninth-graders are
transformed by the experience of language’s
core essence — opening doors to
new and old worlds.
15

�anguage
A L U M N I P R O F I L E S
Méli Solomon ’75
English language trainer and editor in
Berlin, Germany
Tracy Slater ’82
Freelance writer living in Osaka, Japan
Lily Davis ’94
Marketing French wines in Los Angeles
Freddy Deknatel ’00
Arabic-speaking freelance journalist
pursuing modern Middle Eastern studies at
Oxford University
Benjamin Stevens ’00
Candidate for a MPhil in ancient history at
Oxford, using ancient Greek and Latin
Caitlin Truesdale Dick ’01
Teaching English to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
Graders in Marseille, France
Bassil Bacare ’11
Spanish student at Roxbury Latin
16 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
Méli Solomon ’75
English language trainer and editor in
Berlin, Germany
Above, Méli (left) enjoys ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ with historian Simone Erpel PhD, a
friend and client who curated an exhibit at the Ravensbrück concentration camp.
Méli spent five precious and busy years at Park, pulling her academics
together and showing her skill in field hockey, lacrosse, and gymnastics.
Following Park, she graduated from BB&N. In college, she studied architecture
at Pratt Institute then transferred to Oberlin College, graduating
in 1984 with a BA in studio art. Later on, she added an MBA from
Northeastern University to the list. Her career has covered a range of
fields including commercial photography, business management, and fine
art. Since moving to Berlin in 2009, she has worked as a language
trainer and editor in English, specializing in “Business English.” She lives
in Berlin with her two cats, Angora and Piccolo.
m
y story with foreign languages
is not one of a lifelong
love or precocious
facility. It is, rather, one of an early struggle
with my mother tongue and a mid-life
emigration. Beginning in college, I began a
three-decade long journey studying and
working in various angles of the visual world
— architecture, photography, printmaking,
and art galleries. Along the way, I was on
both the creative and business side. The shift
to language was born of a lifestyle change,
namely, my decision to move to Germany.
Underneath the surface and the left
brain/right brain differences, I see a more
important connection in that they are all

about communication and expressing yourself.
Since living in Germany meant, for me,
knowing German, it was a critical element in
the move. Besides being able to function,
however, it has been a gateway to understanding
the culture, and subsequently a way to
work in the country. Through my struggle, I
found a desire to help other professionals
grappling with a foreign language. Most professionals,
who are accustomed to sounding
intelligent and in command, find it embarrassing
and problematic to not be able to
express themselves cogently.
Learning German has been an interesting,
rewarding, frustrating and eye-opening experi-
ence for me. I’d studied French in high school
and Italian in college. Although I achieved
enough skill in the latter to have basic conversations
with the locals in Rome, I’m in new
territory now, both literally and figuratively.
This experience, especially since I have
learned German as an adult, is helpful for my
work as a language trainer. It increases my
compassion and understanding of the student’s
challenge, including specific German-
English issues. I’m also more patient and
enthusiastic about accomplishments, knowing
how hard-won they often are.
Because I have an MBA and many years
of experience in management and sales, my
specialty is “Business English.” I work free-
lance, and meet my clients at their offices, so
I schlep all over the city. Working with adults
at an intermediate level and above means that
my process of helping them is like solving a
jigsaw puzzle, which I love doing. I need to fit
their skill level, gaps, field and job together
into an efficient coherent program. It’s really
satisfying to see the progress and hear about
situations handled more successfully than
before.
In addition to the training, I edit a range
of text for business (websites, workshop
materials, presentations, articles, brochures,
etc.), which is equally satisfying. Here I get to
improve the text, helping my clients to express
their ideas more clearly or interestingly. The
balance is good—people time with training;
high-level English and I can work from home
on the editing. I learn things in both situations,
whether about how a language works,
how it is learned, or some intercultural point.
My experience with German is a daily
affair. I am currently at a proficiency level,
but my aim is fluency and look forward to
that day, whenever it arrives. Despite not
being fluent, I have developed many friendships
and professional relationships with Germans
and have had numerous conversations
both in German and about Germany, which I
have had only because I live here, and that’s
worth all the discomfort and frustration.
There have been surprises about living
abroad, but not really in the language. It’s
more revealing than anything. Language is a
window into culture, and German is no
exception. It’s orderly, logical, has lots of
rules and a clipped sound. For instance, the
German equivalent for the American ‘are you
ok?’ is ‘Ist alles in Ordnung?’, literally ‘Is everything
in order?’ Quite a different question!
Also, having the informal ‘du’ and formal ‘Sie’
words for ‘you’, forces me to think about the
relationship in a way we don’t have to in English.
The terms reflect the cultural norm for
formality and distance, meaning people sometimes
stay on the formal ‘Sie’ for years, even as
colleagues or neighbors. While this can feel
really cold and distant to this open and
friendly American, the clarity and honesty is
refreshing. I love that at some point, some
one can ask if they could switch to ‘du’, and
it’s perfectly acceptable to say ‘no, thank you,
I’d like to stay with ‘Sie’. Admittedly, this is
changing some, especially among younger
people, who are adopting the American informality,
but this is by no means the norm, and
it’s still important to show respect by addressing
people formally until they say otherwise.
So, that’s my journey with languages. It
continues to be engaging, and I welcome the
developments that surely lie ahead.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 17

Tracy Slater ’82
Freelance writer living in Osaka, Japan
Tracy Slater attended Park from Kindergarten through ninth grade, graduating
in 1982. After Park, she went to Concord Academy, then Tufts
University, and then Brandeis University for her PhD in English and
American literature. She taught writing for over ten years at various
Boston-area universities, as well as in Boston University’s Prison
Education Program, where she taught literature and gender studies in men’s
and women’s prisons throughout Massachusetts. Now a full-time freelance
writer living in Osaka with her husband, Toru Hoshino, she has published
pieces in the New York Times online, CNNGo, Boston Globe,
Post Road, the Best Women’s Travel Writing anthology, and other
places. She is also the founder of the award-winning global literary series
Four Stories (www.fourstories.org).
18 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
“Found in Translation”
istill remember my first French lesson at
Park. I was thrilled at the idea that I was
old enough to start learning another
language, feeling quite sophisticated as we sat
in our little chairs, lined up facing each other
with a screen at one end, Monsieur Planchon
and a projector at the other. As class began we
stared at the image of a man and then a
woman reflected in front of us while Monsieur
Planchon pointed to each and said “Voila
Monsieur Thibaud! Voila Madame Thibaud! ” And
then he introduced their children the same way.
I sat silently waiting for Monsieur Planchon
to translate. But he didn’t. He just
repeated the words in French with a series of
grand gestures towards the screen. I was floored
when I realized he was actually going to try to
make us learn another language by not speaking
English!
That night, while puzzling over the word
“Oui” on my homework (I could not for the
life of me figure out how the French got “wee”
out of an O, U, and I stuck together), I
thought my enthusiasm for the language was
surely going to be short-lived.
But I was wrong.
Park instilled in me a love of the French
language, a love of its rhythms and sounds and
beauty and of the sheer wonder that millions
of people used something other than English—which
seemed so natural, so instinctual
to me, as my first language — to live their lives
and experience their world. When I went on to
boarding school, I continued taking French and
spent a summer in France, living with a family
and touring around the Northwest region.
Then in college, I decided to double-major in
French and English literature, living in Paris
my junior year.
As my graduation from college drew

nearer, I knew I wasn’t ready to give up studying
literature. I toyed with trying to get my
PhD in French Lit, but I knew my limits: to
really be marketable as an academic in French,
I would have to be willing to move, maybe
even outside of the U.S. So I decided if I
earned by PhD in English, I would have a better
shot of at least staying in the U.S., and
maybe even in Boston.
Again, I was wrong.
I did earn my PhD in English and loved
studying literature for six more years, even if
it wasn’t in French. But then I fell madly in
love. With a man from Osaka.
My husband, Toru, is the oldest son, and
as such in a Japanese family, we have the
responsibility of caring for his parents as they
age. When we met, he was pursuing an Executive
MBA in Boston and I had started a career
teaching writing and literature part-time at
the university level and writing part-time as a
freelancer. Toru works for a huge Japanese
corporation, so when we married, we realized
it was easier for me to transfer my career as a
freelancer to Japan than it would be for him
to move to Boston —especially when his
mother passed away and we really wanted to
stay close to his father in Osaka.
All this was complicated, however, by the
fact that when Toru and I met, I spoke no
Japanese. So for the past seven years, I have
been struggling to learn a new language as
we’ve settled here in Japan.
Japanese, I’ve discovered, is even harder
than French. It’s actually quite easy to pronounce
for native English speakers (unlike
“Oui” was for me at first), but the grammar
and syntax are completely different, and in
some cases the exact opposite, of English or
other Romance Languages. There are also
different levels of conjugation not just for the
past and present but also for where you are in
the social hierarchy compared to where someone
else is. So sometimes I long for the simplicity
of just trying to remember whether a
word is masculine or feminine!
I’ve taken Japanese classes off and on for
about four years, and I’m always struck by
how, when I’m searching for a word in Japanese
that I don’t know or can’t remember, my
brain automatically substitutes the word in
French. It’s as if the part of my brain associated
with grasping for language is forever
connected to French.
I speak English with my husband and
Japanese with my father-in-law, whom I adore
(although in truth, we mostly just do a lot of
bowing and smiling at each other, since my
Japanese is still so rough!).
I’m lucky that the Web has made it
virtually seamless for me still to work as a
freelance writer for U.S. publications and universities,
so my career has not been impacted
negatively by my move to Japan. And I feel
lucky that my experience at Park helped give
me the courage to explore living my life and
exploring my world in a new language.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 19

it’s a bit of a mystery as to how I ended
up effectively bilingual. My folks are
from New York, not Paris. We grew up
going to Martha’s Vineyard in the summers,
not the south of France, and though my
mother did read me French children’s books
and my best friend’s mum was from Alsace, I
didn’t speak any French words until my first
class in the sixth grade at Park, where Joelle
Cabot painstakingly showed us slides and
played us tapes of the now legendary ‘Mr.
Thibault’ as he conducted his days in the 13th
Arrondissement of Paris. We watched, listened,
and repeated.
It was strange because I’d never had an
experience like that before, even from the first
class, of feeling like I was born to do something.
(I know that sounds silly—born to
speak French — it’s not as if it were a calling
or something. If I’d been French it would
have been a completely natural. But there was
nothing French about me.) It didn’t take long
for Madame Cabot, who taught three of my
four years of language classes at Park, to real-
Lily Davis ’94
ize I had aptitude. She started to push me.
But I didn’t want to be the teacher’s pet or
draw too much attention to myself. I pretended
I didn’t care about French or my
teacher. But in private, I studied hard, went to
foreign movies, and read long books in tenses
I hadn’t learned yet.
First trip to France — Grade IX at Park:
eye-opening is the best way to describe it. I
lived with a family that had no telephone. In
1994. I saw the sights and had some fun but it
was in the evenings alone sitting on the windowsill
looking over the green hills of the Ilede-France
that I felt something happen in me.
It sounds corny; teenagers always feel tumult.
But all of a sudden I knew there something
of me to discover in this place.
I kept studying. It was my best subject at
Milton besides English. I got to Skidmore
and my English and French teachers told me I
had real talent, that I should major. So I did.
Seemed easy, and pleasurable. I took a threemonth
Spanish course and was speaking fluently
(though the muscle is slack now from
20 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
Marketing French wines in Los Angeles
Lily Davis spent 11 years at The Park School before attending
Milton Academy and Skidmore College, where she double majored in
English and French literature. After two years in Paris and Reims
(Champagne) she moved to New York and worked in various
avenues of the wine business: as a sommelier in Midtown, doing PR
at the Loire Valley Wine Bureau, and as a sales rep at a boutique
retailer on 13th Street, Union Square Wines. Last year, she moved to
Los Angeles to take a job as the staff writer and marketing/communications
manager at Woodland Hills Wine Company, a national
retailer/e-tailer of fine wines from around the world. Lily is
“fluent in French, can scrape by in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and
can utter a few German phrases, too.”
lack of use). I went to live in Paris for my
junior year, drank a lot of six-franc wine in
parks, fell in love, got my heart broken, the
usual romantic machinations. I was hooked
on the place.
After college I moved back to Paris and
got a job teaching English at a business language
school in the 8th Arrondissement. I
lived in a cheap, little flat by Canal St. Martin
about five years pre-gentrification, with black
wall-to-wall carpeting and one window that
looked on a grey wall. It wasn’t easy, but I was
on my path. At work, I met a boy from the
Champagne region and started spending
evenings with him and his roommates sampling
the different champagnes their fathers
made in their spacious flat on the Rue
Oberkampf. They were all planning to go into
the wine trade, like their fathers and mothers
for generations before them. It dawned on me
that this business also existed back home.
The wine trade. Nobody teaches you about it
in school in America. It has to find you.
Probably the single most fascinating

aspect of wine is that it’s interdisciplinary:
Where else do geology, geography, biology,
chemistry, topography and meteorology meet
culture, tradition, history, travel, language, and
ultimately, the five senses? When the boys
asked me to move back to Reims with them,
the capital of the Champagne region, for the
now legendary 2002 champagne harvest, I
jumped. Mostly my role consisted of picking
grapes in the chalky-soiled vineyards of the
Montagne de Reims. But it was enough. I’d
caught the wine bug big time.
Back in New York I got certified as a
sommelier and worked at a restaurant in midtown
for years. It paid the bills. I learned
Brazilian Portuguese from a kind-hearted
Brazilian bartender’s assistant (or barback in
the restaurant business), who took three
months one summer to teach me conversational
Portuguese. I took a job repping the
wines of the Loire Valley, which was fun and
empassioned, but still I wanted more. Then
I took a job in wine retail. Once I found retail
I was never bored. In retail you’re interfacing
with wines and people from all over the
world on a daily basis. Planning events with
distributors, promoting emerging regions,
travelling to meet winemakers, developing
marketing strategies and writing sales copy to
best sell any given product, not to mention
eating, drinking, laughing, and hanging out
with people from every country. When I had
the opportunity to move to Los Angeles to
be the staff writer and marketing/communications
manager at Woodland Hills, a 13,000
square foot retail space specializing in the
wines of Burgundy and Champagne with a
huge online presence, I thought… gulped…
packed a suitcase and my cat… and got the
next plane to L.A.
In L.A., my job includes writing all sales
copy for our national market, conceiving and
drafting all marketing strategy, translating all
documentation and reviews from French, acting
as a liaison with producers from France,
Germany, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia,
and Hungary, coordinating and marketing all
the in-store events, building in-store content
(I buy Central Europe and Greece), assisting
with Burgundy allocations, editing content for
the marketing blog I instituted, and managing
all social media. I took an Italian class at
Santa Monica College but dropped out after
the first two weeks — the traffic was just too
much. But I learned enough to be able to
greet to my Italian producers and order pesto
and pigato this summer in San Remo. (My
German is pathetic, but I can understand if
people speak slowly.)
Please get in touch if you have any
questions about wine or are interested in the
wine business. My email is lily@whwc.com.
And check us out online www.whwc.com,
www.whwcblog.com, woodland hills wine
company on Facebook and @WHWC on
Twitter.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 21

After Grades I through III at Park, Freddy went on to Dexter
School and Milton Academy, including a semester at The Mountain
School in Vermont. He graduated from Vassar College in 2008,
where he studied history and Arabic, and spent a year abroad at the
American University in Cairo. After Vassar he lived in Syria on a
Fulbright fellowship, and continued to travel widely in the region,
settling in Cairo after his year in Damascus. He’s currently an
MPhil candidate in modern Middle Eastern studies at St. Antony’s
College, Oxford. A freelance journalist, he writes for The Nation,
the Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications.
Freddy Deknatel ’00
Arabic-speaking freelance journalist pursuing modern Middle
Eastern studies at Oxford University
22 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
ifirst thought about studying Arabic in
an apartment in Brooklyn in the summer
of 2005, at the suggestion of two
roommates, one born in Iran and the other
with parents from Israel. An introductory
course on modern Middle Eastern history
that spring, my freshman year at Vassar, had
sparked my interest in the history and politics
of the region.
Two years later, I was in an apartment
in Egypt. I had just completed a year abroad
at the American University in Cairo and was
spending summer days in 100-degree heat,
traveling through heavy traffic to and from
the office of the Daily News Egypt, an independent
English-language newspaper distributed
with the International Herald Tribune, which
I had been writing for since Christmas. I
covered a labor strike in a factory town in
the Nile Delta; the crackdown on small,
determined opposition protests in Cairo
against the increasingly authoritarian regime
of Hosni Mubarak; and the decline of
traditional handicrafts in the city’s historic
neighborhoods.
Two year after that, I was in Syria, finishing
a year as a Fulbright fellow. The grant
supported research on urban history and
architectural preservation in Damascus, one
of the world’s oldest cities. Its Roman-walled
Old City was the site of a small tourism
boom as its hundreds-year old houses were
restored and remade into boutique hotels and
restaurants — part of the Syrian regime’s
strategy of masking its repression and political
dominance by opening up and liberalizing
the economy.
In Syria I worked for the United Nations
Refugee Agency, on a project promoting Iraqi
refugee artists. I was introduced firsthand to
the plight of Iraqi refugees in Syria, and
developed close friendships with a handful of
artists and a family from Baghdad. I came
back to Brookline with seven oil paintings
from Iraqi artists I still call on Skype. By the
end of my grant I was back to being a freelance
journalist, contributing stories from
Damascus to two Boston-based publications,
the Christian Science Monitor and GlobalPost.
But as with my time in Egypt, I was in
Syria more than anything to study Arabic.
Arabic isn’t a language you learn in one summer,
or even one intensive year immersed with
private tutors in Damascus, although that

Freddy and his girlfriend, Emily, visiting the desert monastery of Mar Musa outside Damascus, Syria, in 2009.
helps too. There are markedly different
dialects of colloquial Arabic as it is spoken
from Egypt to Syria, Iraq to Morocco. The
written language, both the classical Arabic of
the Quran or the more standardized Arabic
used in modern media and literature, is based
on a root system of three or four letters,
which unlocks the vagaries of vocabulary,
grammar, and syntax — but also opens up
what seem like endless lists of word variations.
I have studied Arabic because I wanted to
understand the contemporary Middle East,
beyond what one reads or hears on the news
in America. Particularly as a journalist, to be
able to have casual conversations and pick
up on the nuances of expression, rather than
relying on a translator and so never having
those opportunities, Arabic was essential. At
Oxford, where I’m completing my masters in
modern Middle Eastern studies, Arabic
lessons are more traditional: we translate,
mostly recent newspaper articles and passages
of modern Egyptian literature, and transcribe,
often Al Jazeera newscasts and television
talk-shows.
After I left Syria in 2009, I went back to
Cairo to work as a freelance journalist, before
coming back to America to work at The Nation
in New York. I started writing for the magazine
as a fact-checker, and since leaving New
York for Oxford in 2010, I’ve continued to
write about the Middle East for The Nation,
the Los Angeles Review of Books, Abu Dhabi’s
The National, and other publications. I went
back to Egypt in the summer and winter of
2011 to interview architects, planners, and
preservationists for my Oxford thesis, on how
the Mubarak regime used urban planning
as a tool of authoritarian rule and control.
Debates about how to plan Cairo’s urban
future, and how to preserve its rich architectural
past, have been rekindled by Egypt’s
on-going revolution and the possibilities of
democratic transition.
Future plans lie between academia and
journalism. After graduating from Oxford this
summer, I hope to work as a journalist or
Middle East-related researcher back in the
United States, keeping an eye on the on-going
Arab revolutions and uprisings, particularly in
Egypt and Syria. I want to adapt my master’s
thesis on Cairo urbanism into a longer piece
of writing, a kind of narrative non-fiction
with updated reporting from Egypt. I’d love
to live in the region again, whether Cairo or,
someday hopefully, Damascus after the end of
the Assad regime.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 23

Benjamin Stevens ’00
Candidate for a MPhil in ancient history at the University of
Oxford. A student of Ancient Greek and Latin, he also works
with texts in Old Norse, Old English, Old Frisian, Old High
German, Hittite, Luwian, and Akkadian. He speaks German
and Italian, and reads French and Icelandic.
In reflecting on his decade at Park, Benjamin remembers Lucy Robb
and Greg Grote, who sparked his interest in the Ancient World, and
recalls the support and encouragement of Phil Gambone and Curt
Miller. In 2003 Benjamin graduated from Milton Academy, where
he continued with Latin and deepened his interest in history. At
Brandeis University, he added Ancient Greek, German, Italian, and
Akkadian to his Latin studies. Benjamin moved to Berlin after college,
giving himself the opportunity to continue studying languages and
linguistics around Europe, including at Universiteit Leiden
(Netherlands) and Háskólasetur Vestfjarða (Ísafjörður, Iceland).
Benjamin is currently in England reading for an MPhil in ancient
history at the University of Oxford, and will continue in the doctoral
program beginning in October 2012.
ibegan my study of languages in Mr.
Grote’s classroom at Park, choosing then,
as I have with a number of languages
since, to start at the beginning. I knew that
many languages descended from Latin, so
Latin seemed to me the most reasonable place
to start. Though I think my intention had
been to use it as a back door into other languages
based on and influenced by it, what I
learned in those classes was the importance of
studying language and history together.
Interestingly, though I had majors in history
and classics in college, it was in “Linguistic
Anthropology” that I felt most able to
combine studies of history and language.
Anthropology is too young a field to require
much of a core curriculum from its students;
rather, it tends to provide theoretical and analytical
tools, and to leave to the student the
selection or collection of data. This worked
out marvelously for me, as my other majors
were providing plenty of data, but not giving
me the opportunities I wanted to engage in
meaningful analysis. Then, as now, I wanted to
combine studies of languages and history to
say something not just about a document or
an event, but about people — about the way
language and writing reflect, and shape, our
societies.
Though I did add Ancient Greek and
Akkadian to my repertoire in college, “starting
at the beginning” meant more than simply
learning more old languages. It was clear to me
that I needed to understand the way languages
work and relate to each other before I could
talk about how they relate to society. This led
me to linguistics. I enjoyed the rigorous deconstruction
and study of the sounds and forms
of language (phonology and morphology), but
I was most interested in semiotics, the branch
of linguistics that seeks to understand just
what it is about these sounds and forms that
24 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
makes them significant and meaningful. One
of the most valuable concepts I’ve taken away
from any of my studies was first introduced to
me in linguistic terms: the meaning of a sound
or a word ultimately lies in what it isn’t—that
is, in all of the ways it isn’t quite the same as
the things it’s associated with. For example,
our understanding of ‘tree’ is ultimately based
on the relationship between ‘tree’ and ‘bush’
‘forest’ ‘wood’ ‘nature’ etc.
An enormous part of learning a new language
is getting your head around these conceptual
groupings — the ways the language
divides up the world into ideas. Where some
languages have one word, others have many.
Take the case of the proverbial German family,
the Kleins, whose three brothers independently
immigrate to the U.S. Years later, the three
brothers arrange a family reunion, only to discover
they are now Mr. Short, Mr. Small, and
Mr. Little. In modern languages, though, most

of the differences between idea clusters aren’t
that big. Every language has its quirks, but
‘untranslatables’ aren’t all that common. I
believe that every new language we learn
teaches us to think a little differently about
the world, but no modern western language
can cause headaches the way ancient ones can.
The differences in cultural worldview just
don’t compare.
This is part of what I find so interesting
about studying ancient languages and cultures.
The linguistic lenses through which, for
instance, the Ancient Greeks viewed the world
bring into focus objects and ideas that seem,
from our modern perspective, quite far apart.
Take the Ancient Greek word deinós, which
can be translated as ‘fearful’ ‘wondrous’
‘strange’ or ‘clever.’ The point is not that deinós
means each of these things in different contexts,
but rather that, to the Ancient Greek, all
of these related ideas were expressed in a single
word (which anyone who has stood in awe
before the fossilized remains of a dinosaur can
appreciate). Similarly, where English and most
modern western languages have one word for
love, the Greeks have at least three: agápē, deep
and true love; érōs, sensual desire, or passion;
and philía, the love of companions, encompassing
both affection and loyalty. Just as illuminating
are cases where a language describes
new or foreign things or ideas with words it
already has. The Old Norse word vindauga, a
compound of the words vindr (wind) and auga
(eye), is a classic example of this, giving a vivid
picture of the Viking world. Because the
Anglo-Saxons borrowed the metaphor, we in
the Anglophone world are still looking
through that same ‘window.’
These groupings and oppositions aren’t
just to be found in language, of course. These
are how we humans conceive of the world, and
it’s often not until we’re exposed to different
ways of slicing up reality that we realize how
we’re doing it ourselves. One of my current
projects involves prayer and cursing, religion
and magic in Archaic and early Classical
Greece. These are sets of practices and ideas
that we, today, divide fairly neatly into separate
categories, though they’ve clearly always been
very closely connected. I’m far from the first
person to address the topic, but it’s provided a
very interesting framework for looking at
ancient Greek society.
My current program focuses on ancient
Greek history, so I certainly read a lot of
Greek. Because my interest is in very early
writing, most of my sources are inscriptions,
and it’s often as much a project of decipherment
as actual reading. I’m fortunate to have
access, here at Oxford, to the Centre for the
Study of Ancient Documents (CSAD). While
it’s true that the British made off rather
well when it came to bringing actual inscribed
stones (and bronze plaques, etc.) back to
Britain, most epigraphers work from photographs
and what are called “squeezes” — paper
or latex impressions of the original inscriptions.
CSAD has the largest collection of
squeezes in the world, including a large number
taken from stones that have since been
destroyed, lost, or damaged by pollution or
exposure to the elements. In fact, not only
are some of the squeezes invaluable, but many
are themselves over a century old.
This long tradition of scholarship is
another place where languages factor. When
Latin ceased being the international language
of scholarship, academics were free to focus on
other subjects and write in their native languages.
The result is that scholars today have
to learn all these different languages. In
Ancient History, this means not just reading
Greek and Latin, but also German and French,
at least. For instance, in an edited volume on
Greek religion, it’s commonplace to find about
five essays in English, four in German, two in
French, and usually one in Italian or Modern
Greek. It’s still expected that serious scholars
will simply learn the languages. Of course, it
does make for some very peculiar vocabularies,
not to mention pronunciation.
So yes, many of the languages I’ve studied
are applicable to the work I’m currently doing.
But I’m clearly not just working with classical
and scholarship languages. I’ve spent two summers
now studying Germanic languages and
linguistics in Holland and Iceland, and I’ve
gone out of the way to study ancient languages
of Anatolia and Mesopotamia. When I return
to Leiden this summer, I’ll hopefully be able
to pick up some Old Swedish and a little bit
of Aramaic. Why? Well, I really do believe that
learning new languages (even ancient ones)
teaches me to think differently. The more I
train my brain to consider different ways of
describing experience, the easier it is to make
sense of how new and different languages do
it. This is important to me because I work so
much with different languages, but I’d also
like to believe it has a positive effect on my
scholarship. The more I study languages and
cultures — similar in certain ways and different
in others—the better I understand not just
each of them individually, but also all of them
as a whole.
GLOSSARY
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in
ancient Mesopotamia from 2500 BCE — 100 AD.
Hittite was spoken in north-central Anatolia (modern Turkey)
from 1700 BCE to 1100 BCE.
Luwian was spoken between 1400 BCE to 700 BCE in central
and western Anatolia and northern Syria.
Old Frisian is a West Germanic language spoken between the
8th and 16th centuries in the area between the Rhine and
Weser on the North Sea coast.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 25

After ten years at Park (Nursery– Grade VIII), Caitlin attended St.
Paul’s School. She took a year off after high school to gain valuable experiences
such as working for the Student Conservancy Association at Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park, teaching aboard an educational tall ship for the
L.A. Maritime Institute, and working in and around Washington D.C.
with AmeriCorps NCCC. At Reed College, Caitlin majored in French,
spent her junior year in Paris, and returned to write her senior thesis on
Simone de Beauvoir’s novel, Les Belles Images. Caitlin taught in lower
school classrooms at the Brearley School in New York City before moving to
Marseille to teach English to French school children. In her free time,
Caitlin writes both creative fiction and non-fiction and is an aspiring
singer/songwriter. She practices yoga daily, is a certified yoga instructor,
and loves the outdoors.
Caitlin Truesdale Dick ’01
Teaching English to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Graders in
Marseille, France
26 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
it’s Thursday morning. Today I teach at
Blancarde and Petit Bosquet, two elementary
schools located in the Twelfth
Arrondissement of Marseille, France. At 10
a.m., I hop on my bike and ride to Petit
Bosquet. I walk into a classroom full of
twenty first graders and spend forty-five minutes
teaching phrases like “read a book,” “ride
a bike,” and “tell jokes,” because this week I’ve
decided to teach a unit on ‘activities.’ We play
games, color, and I try to get them to talk,
and hopefully, to listen to each other as well.
Then the bell rings, which, if I’m caught off
guard, still gives me an adrenaline rush
because of its close proximity to an American
fire alarm. I say my farewells, hop on my bike
and have lunch at my house, following the
great tradition here of eating a midday meal
at home (which I love). After lunch, I bike to
my other school, Blancarde, where I greet a
class of twenty second and third graders. I
teach the same phrases, in a more advanced
way, hopefully appropriate to their level, and
then we start talking about our pen pal project,
which launches next week.
I currently work at three different French
elementary schools, where I design and teach
English language classes. At the beginning of
the year, I taught my classes half in English
and half in French, or some kind of mélange
of the two. New to the job, I knew it would
be better to speak only in English, but I was
still learning the ropes to keep my students
engaged. It turns out teaching a language is
quite different from being a lower school
homeroom teacher! As the year progresses,
and my students understand more and more,
and I feel more confident, I am speaking less
French and more English with them. I often
find myself thinking about my French lessons
at Park so I can relate to what my students
are going through. It has been inspiring to
see their progress, as well as to see my own
rising confidence teaching in the French
school system. I have found it fascinating to
observe other teachers here, and the school
system as a whole, and still feel that I am
absorbing these lessons as time goes by.
For as long as I can remember, I loved
learning, and I loved playing the role of
“teacher.” The youngest of a family of Parkees,
I was so excited to finally be in school
that when I joined Mrs. Platt’s Nursery class,
I remember asking my mom to give me
homework and then trying to make assignments
for my older brother and sister. I recall

hearing my siblings speaking French around
me at home and I wanted to take part. That
was how I decided to take French in the sixth
grade. It was the second language my family
spoke, and I wanted to follow suit. Teachers
like Ms. Cabot, Ms. Robino, and Mr. Rivera
left a great impact, like all of my teachers at
Park, but perhaps were even more influential
than I realized back then.
French was always a class in school that I
enjoyed and was pretty good at, but I never
dreamed that it would become such a big part
of my life. After Park, I continued with
French literature courses at St. Paul’s School.
My teachers there left an equally strong
impression. When I look back on it, all of my
French teachers in elementary and high school
seemed to have a “joie de vivre” that was
appealing to me. When I studied abroad in
Paris my junior year in college, I started to
understand why. I was struck by various
aspects of the French culture and ultimately
became enamored by it for life. I majored in
French in college, combining my interests in
literature and feminism into a senior thesis
on Simone de Beauvoir’s interpretations of
freedom in her novel, Les Belles Images.
After college, I decided to pursue teaching
as a lower school assistant at the Brearley
School in New York City. For two years, I
worked with fourth and first graders, maintaining
responsibilities that ranged from independently
teaching four English classes a
day, to serving as a fourth grade interim head
teacher, to collaborating in managing the
everyday homeroom routine. At the end of
those two years, I felt like my French was
slipping and I wanted return to France so I
could brush up on my language skills once
again, continue to move forward with teaching,
and have a bit more time to myself to
pursue writing and music.
My lifestyle here in Marseille has pushed
me in ways that my experience in Paris did
not. I have enjoyed exploring Southern France
and all that it has to offer, the people, the
cities, the outdoor activities, and more. I talk
to a wider range of people (landlords,
bankers, sailors, rock climbers, colleagues,
couchsurfing groups, yoga classmates), and
consequently, my vocabulary continues to
expand. I still have a great deal to learn, and
have my tired days, but I am so glad I came
back for a second year. I just love hearing and
speaking French. I feel lucky that it is part of
my every day life right now and am enjoying
the daily adventures and lessons of life
abroad. Here’s hoping that the “joie de vivre”
will continue, wherever it may take me next!
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 27

Bassil Bacare ’11
Spanish student at Roxbury Latin
When Bassil joined the Class of 2011 as a seventh grader, he already
had taken a year of Spanish at the Washington Irving Middle School
in Roslindale. At Park, he embraced Peter Amershadian’s class, noting,
“I just fell in love with it!” Bassil, who was born in Khartoum,
Sudan, speaks Arabic at home and learned English when he came to
the United States in 1997 at age two. Following his three years at
Park, Bassil is now in the tenth grade at Roxbury Latin.
taking Spanish with Mr. Amershadian
was amazing. From the first time I
walked into his classroom, I sensed a
vibe that was irresistible. The first time I met
Mr. Amershadian, I felt a connection almost
immediately. The way he taught the class was
astounding. He knew exactly what he was
doing. In addition to teaching, he is a walking
encyclopedia. If you asked him any question,
he immediately knew the answer especially
about anything related to the Spanish language.
The more I learned about the Spanish
culture, the more it just felt right. It’s inexplicable
really — like falling in love. The ninth
grade trip to Spain was the highlight of the
language program for me. My favorite memory
is our whole group sitting together in
Café Novelty in the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca
— enjoying the moment, practicing our
Spanish together — it was just the best. It was
one of the best days of my life. I felt right at
home with the way the Spanish people interact
with each other. It was easy for me to feel
at home with the culture.
That’s not to say that it was always easy.
In Salamanca, we were placed with Spanish
families for a “home stay.” Living with my
family who didn’t speak any English was the
ultimate test for me. At first, I felt very apprehensive
to utter my first Spanish word in
Spain. When I met my host mother for the
first time, I hadn’t fully adjusted to speaking
only Spanish and I spoke to her in English.
Realizing where I was, I asked “¿Como ésta,
usted?” From that moment on, my host
mother and I enjoyed conversing with each
other. Every morning and evening, sitting at
the table, we would chat the time away. Not
only was I able to talk with my host mother,
but also in school as well. We spent the
morning in classes, and I loved talking with
Patricia, my Spanish school instructor. She
was very sociable, humorous, and compassionate,
and knew how to make the class lively.
During the trip was got a fair amount of free
time to roam around. Walking the streets of
Spain encouraged me to just say “holá” to
random people. The people were friendly
enough even to say hi back or even talk with
28 The Park School Bulletin | L A N G U A G E
me. By the end of the trip, the language
“clicked” for me — I couldn’t stop talking! If I
were to return with all my friends, I would go
in a heartbeat.
I felt very prepared for my Spanish class
at Roxbury Latin. Although I’m now in a new
environment, I feel as if I was still back at
Park. I astonished myself by what came out of
my mouth. I immediately felt part of the
class. This year in Spanish, we are mainly
focusing on the Spanish culture, geography,
and poetry. We are reading a play about a
family living through the Spanish Civil War,
Las bicicletas son para el verano by Fernando
Fernán Gómez, in Spanish. At times it is
challenging with all the different vocabulary,
but mostly it’s easy. At RL, all students are
required to take Latin as well, which is plus.
I can see how Spanish words all have Latin
roots. Through the years, I have also developed
a love for the French language. Now I’m
interested in learning French, too!
I am looking forward to returning to
Spain this summer to Cádiz to keep improving
my conversational Spanish. From everything
I’ve heard, the trip will be similar to
my experience at Park. We’ll be living with
families, attending classes in the morning and
visiting important sites in the afternoons.
I can’t wait!

Photo by Ellis Gaskell
Alumni Notes
Eric Schorr’s musical, Tokio Confidential. From left, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop,
Jill Paice and Benjamin J. McHugh in the musical at Atlantic Stage 2 in Chelsea.
1938
Class Representative
Putty McDowell
1950
Class Representative
Galen Clough
1953
Class Representative
Bob Bray
1960
Peggy Wolman tells us that benefits
her four children “derived from the
values and education afforded to
them at Park are perhaps the greatest
gift we gave Josh ’83, Sarah ’84,
Dave ’89 and Dan ’94. Thank you,
Park!” Summing up five decades,
Roger Knot writes, “I attended Park
from 1952 to 1957 and left with most
of my classmates after the sixth grade.
I then went to Rivers in Chestnut Hill
for two years and graduated from
St. Mark’s in 1963. After a year as an
exchange student in England I graduated
with the class of 1968 from
Columbia College. Thereafter, I spent
two and a half years working in
Manhattan for the British-American
Educational Foundation before going
to North Georgia with VISTA in
1971. I worked for the State of Georgia
from 1972 till I retired in July
2006, five years as a child welfare
caseworker and twenty-nine years for
the State Board of Pardons and
Paroles. I have lived on Lake Lanier
in Gainesville, Georgia, for 35 years. I
am married to the former Mary Elizabeth
(Emme) Broughton, who grew
up in Framingham, Brookline, and
Wellesley and is a professional musician.
She has homes in Ossining
and Wappinger, New York, where I
spend part of the year. Our children
are John Nott, who works as a
mechanical engineer in Atlanta, and
Katie Kresek, a professional violinist
who lives in Manhattan. I am an
avid canoeist and volunteer with
several canoeing organizations
and the Boy Scouts, and as an international
Whitewater Slalom and
Wildwater judge. I hope we can
round up as many classmates as possible
for a reunion in the near future.”
1963
Class Representative
Amy Lampert
1966
Class Representative
Wigs Frank
Emily Burr writes from South
Africa, “I’m working hard and
enjoying being in the Peace Corps.”
Emily is teaching English and math
in the primary school of the small
village where she is living. “I have
a blog if you’d like to learn more
of what I’ve been doing.”
emily-peacecorps.blogspot.com
1967 45 TH REUNION
Class Representative
Davis Rowley
1968
Class Representative
Vicky Kehlenbeck
1972 40 TH REUNION
Amy Usen’s line of work is graphic
sales. “If anyone is looking for graphic
services please be in touch!”
1973
Class Representative
Rick Berenson
Macy Ratliff reports that she is still
living in the greater Seattle area and is
“working with ESL students while
working on my own language skills—I
hope to start learning Vietnamese
soon.” Macy loves being in the outdoors
and running. In fact, she completed
two half marathons last year
and numerous 5k and 10k races. “I
had a wonderful mini reunion with
Julia Talcott and Betsy Leahy in
Newton and also was able to visit my
brother Nick Lawrence ’75 on my
most recent trip to the East Coast. I
will be an empty nester this fall as my
youngest heads off to the University
of Washington. My oldest will be a
senior at St. Olaf College.”
1974
Class Representatives
Rodger Cohen
Margaret Smith Bell
1975
Class Representatives
Colin McNay
Bill Sullivan
Eric Shorr’s new musical Tokio
Confidential enjoyed a strong run in
February and March at the Atlantic
Stage in New York City. For more
information, take a look at Eric’s
website: www.tokioconfidential.com.
Read about Méli Solomon’s
adventures in German on page 16.
1976
Class Representative
Tenney Mead Cover
1977 35 TH REUNION
Class Representative
Sam Solomon
1979
Class Representatives
Lalla Carothers
Sally Solomon
Hilary Grinker Musser is the managing
director of the new Family
Endowment Partners office in Palm
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 29

Hilary Grinker Musser ’79 and her
family spent Thanksgiving in Paris
where her son Cooper posed in front
of the Louvre.
1979 classmates Coup Coupounas
and Jon Tayer at the opening of
Coup’s store in Boulder. Jon is a fan of
the “Go Lite” brand — sporting a fashionable
and functional jacket in this
photo!
2002 10 th Reunion
1997 15 th Reunion
1992 20 th Reunion
1987 25 th Reunion
1982 30 th Reunion
1977 35 th Reunion
1972 40 th Reunion
1967 45 th Reunion
1962 50 th Reunion
Beach. The wealth management company
has offices in Boston, Washington
DC, and Pennsylvania. Hilary
lives in West Palm Beach with her
husband, Tom, and 8-year-old son,
Cooper. Jon Tayer joined classmate
Demetri “Coup” Coupounas at the
opening of the first permanent retail
store for Coup’s Boulder, Coloradobased
outdoor clothing business, Go
Lite. Jon tells us, “the Go Lite store
faces onto the Pearl Street walking
mall in Boulder, Colorado and I am
sure it will be a huge success, knowing
how popular the Go Lite brand
has become.”
1980
Class Representative
Susan Schorr
1981
Class Representatives
Matt Carothers
Alex Mehlman
1982 30 TH REUNION
Class Representative
Allison Nash Mael
Read about Tracy Slater’s challenges
with learning Japanese on page 18.
1983
Class Representatives
Lisa Livens Freeman
Elise Mott
Jennifer and Rob Nadelson ’81 sent a
photo of Abraham “Bram” Nadelson,
who was born on July 14, 2011.
1984
Class Representative
Anne Collins Goodyear
1985
Class Representative
Rachel Levine Foley
30 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
In October, Amanda and Abbott
Lawrence welcomed their third child,
Clara Peabody Lawrence. Congratulations!
Nancy Baker Cahill’s new
art show, “Fascinomas,” opened at the
Pasadena Museum of California Art
earlier this year. Many Parkies were
on hand to celebrate including former
Saturday, May 12 th
Assistant Head of School Sally
Baker, Louise Baker ’92, Emma
Jacobson-Sive ’89, Amy Stevens
Hammond ’85, Dana Jackson ’87
and Jill Bernheimer ’86. (See photo
on page 29.)
1986
Class Representatives
Mark Epker
Jay Livens
1987 25 TH REUNION
Class Representatives
Mary Sarah Baker
Geoffrey Glick
A few 1987 classmates had a Parisian
preview of Reunion. Francie Walton
Karlen, Ashley Maddox Malle, and
Sekou Neblett all convened in Paris
last year. Francie tells us, “Ashley
lives in Paris, Sekou in Germany, and
me, in good old Chestnut Hill!”
(See photo on page 29.)
1988
Class Representative
Liza Cohen Gates
ParkReunion2012
3:00 –4:00 PM: Tour of the “Old” Park School on Kennard Road
4:00 –5:00 PM: Tour of the “New” Park School
5:00 –7:00 PM: Reception for all Reunion Classes
7:30 PM: Individual Class Parties
To learn more, contact: Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98, Director of Alumni Relations
alumni@parkschool.org or 617-274-6022
(continued on page 29)

FEBRUARY FETE
M
ore than 100 alumni, friends, and Park faculty gathered
together at the Hampshire House on Thursday, February
2nd for the third Annual Park Alumni February Fete. Many
current and former Park faculty members mingled with alumni at
the festive evening. After Lanny Thorndike ’81, Chair of the
Search Committee, discussed the search process for Park’s next
Head of School, Jerry Katz then provided an update about
today’s School. It was fabulous evening and we look forward to
seeing everyone again next year!
Clockwise from top left corner: Father and son, Jerry and Ethan Katz ’97; David
Lawton, Alyssa Burrage Scott ’92, Dean Conway, and Nia Lutch ’97; Caitlin Tierney ’99
and Hilary Segar ’03; Abbott Lawrence ’85, Stephanie Stamatos ’85 and Matt Krepps;
Laura Delgado ’98 and friend; Joanna Sandman ’95, Alison Connolly, and Elizabeth
Sandman ’93; Peter Amershadian, Sarah Hall Weigel ’92 and Tom Weigel; Brian Schmitt,
Katharine Burrage Schmitt ’94, Lilla Curran ’95 and Ladd Thorne ’96; Julia Lloyd
Johannsen ’93 and Cassandra Johnson ’93; Katrina Newbury ’85, Elizabeth Wiellette ’85
and Brian Kelly; Julie Bourquin and Melissa Deland ’95; Comfort Halsey Cope,
Connie Berman Moore ’78 and Jen Cunningham Butler ’78; Jessie Harwood Harris ’88
and Maura O’Keefe ’86; Elizabeth Wilsker ’04, Rebecca Wilsker ’00 and Yrinee
Michaelidis ’00; Betsy Glynn, David Glynn ’91, Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93 and Diana
Walcott ’85; Brian Hirschfeld, Cassandra Johnson ’93, Abbott Lawrence ’85 and Richard
Leigh-Pemberton ’87; Bob Hurlbut, Kathrene Tiffany ’96 and Tam DeVaughn ’96;
Lilla Curran ’95, Caitlin Tierney ’99, Hilary Segar ’03, and Andrew Segar.
31

Diana, Lisa, and Mark have continued
to set a high standard for
alumni energy and leadership
within the Park community. They
have led the Alumni Committee
with great skill, and they have reinforced
the message that a distinguishing
feature of Park today is
the strong connection we maintain
with our alumni. Individually and
collectively, Diana, Lisa, and Mark
have embodied the values that are
at the core of a Park School education.
I am very grateful for their
dedicated leadership.
— Jerry Katz
Passion, loyalty and joy describe
the spirit and commitment so generously
shared by Diana, Lisa and
Mark as long time members of
Park’s Alumni Committee.
— Ali Epker Ruch ’89
I’ve had the distinct pleasure of
both having watched Diana ‘grow
up’ as a Park student, and having
served with her as an alum. Consistent
throughout her whole life has
been a love of her classmates,
teachers, friends, and shared effort
- and an infectious energy that
makes one feel in her presence that
anything is possible! Hers is a gracious,
witty, fun-loving, hard-working
ethic that has carried us all
along and lifted my own work and
spirits. Try working beside her and
NOT feeling the magic...Diana’s service
to the School is in the ongoing
tradition of loyalty and integrity
that brings many alums back to the
fold! Thank you, Diana, for the love
and grace you’ve offered us all!
— Greg Cope ’71
When I moved back to Boston in
1999 it was Lisa who encouraged
me to re-engage with Park. With
her infectious energy for all things
Park, it wasn’t long before I was
participating in the Alumni Committee
with a handful of other ‘86ers
including Mark. Mark’s prominent
role on the committee has helped it
become what it is today. Thank you
both for your passion and leadership
but most importantly, for your
friendship!
— Garrett Solomon ’86
Lisa Amick DiAdamo ’86 Mark Epker ’86 Diana Walcott ’85
S A L U T I N G
Three Incredible
Alumni Volunteers
This year the Park Alumni Committee
said goodbye to three of its
founding members, Lisa Amick
DiAdamo ’86, Mark Epker ’86 and
Diana Walcott ’85. Together,
the three have transformed Park’s
alumni program with their
collective 50+ years of service to
the School.
32 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
Diana stands apart — her warmth,
thoughtfulness, insight and most
especially, her dedication to Park —
shined through each of the 16 years
we served together on the Alumni
Committee.
— Phoebe Gallagher Winder ’84
I have known Diana since we first
met and became close friends in the
third grade at Park. 35 years later
we still call each other on our
respective birthdays! Diana has
played such an instrumental role in
keeping our class’s friendships and
communication so active since we
all left the school over 25 years ago.
Diana’s commitment to the growth
of the Alumni Committee has been
unrivalled. There is no question that
so many of the Committee’s important
achievements would not have
been feasible without Diana’s unrelenting
dedication to what she has
always believed comes first — people.
In my mind, Diana embodies
the spirit of what Park stood for
when we were students and what
Park still wants its students to be
today — open minded, fair, confident
in who they are as people and
always aware that everyone has a
life responsibility of giving back and
strengthening their community.
— John Barkan ’86
I will always be grateful to Lisa for
bringing the spirit of social action to
the alumni community, and will
never forget the gratification of
doing good alongside my fellow
alums! Thanks, Lisa!
— Amy Lampert ’63
Mark was the perfect person to
officially welcome the Class of 2009
into the Alumni Association at the
annual Grade IX Lunch four years
ago. When he spoke with the class,
his words were from the heart and
the stories he shared about his
experience staying connected as
a Park alumnus were inspiring. It
is no small coincidence that the
Class of 2009 is one our most connected
recent graduate classes.
Mark, thank you for all your hard
work, you will be missed on the
Committee!
— Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98

Ashley Maddox Malle ’87, Sekou Neblett ’87, and Francie Walton
Karlen ’87 reconnect in Paris, France!
Sally Baker, Emma Jacobson-Sive ’89, and Louise Baker ’92 celebrate with
Nancy Baker Cahill ’85 at the opening of her new art show at the Pasadena
Museum of California Art.
Ali Epker Ruch ‘89 and Baird Ruch welcomed George Campbell Ruch and Henry
Carpenter Ruch into the world and their lives on January 21, 2012. “We are
floating with gratitude for the blessings of these boys and blissfully exhausted!”
1989
Class Representatives
Rebecca Lewin Scott
Ian Glick
Dahlia Aronson
Rob Colby spent the winter in
Florence at Villa I Tatti: The
Harvard University Center for
Italian Renaissance Studies. He was
researching the aesthetic utopia of
“Altamura” that inspired both
Isabella Stewart Gardner and
Bernard Berenson. Stateside, Baird
and Ali Epker Ruch welcomed
twins Henry and George in January.
Congratulations to Dave Wolman
on his new book The End of
Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers,
Techies, Dreamers — and the Coming
Cashless Society.
1990
Class Representatives
Zachary Cherry
Alexander Rabinsky
Congratulations to Eliza Wilmerding
on the birth of her daughter,
Luciana, who was born on February
7th—Eliza’s birthday, too!
1991
Whit Growdon reports that he,
Bob Collins, and Dan Schiff had a
great time in South Beach Florida
celebrating Dan’s engagement to
Kerri Bowen. Congratulations, Dan!
1992 20 TH REUNION
1993
Class Representatives
Jaime Quiros
Alison Ross
Jessica Ko Beck
We hear from her dad, George
Nadaff, that Jessica Nadaff was married
in July to Jeremy Merle. “Alison
Ross came from London to officiate!”
Congratulations!
1994
Class Representatives
Alan Bern
Aba Taylor
Judd Cherry writes with news of his
new production company: “I’ve been
working my tail off. My writing partner
and I have written four scripts
and are producing several movies
and TV projects as well as some new
media. I also directed a short film for
Eliza Wilmerding ‘90 with her
daughter, born February 7, 2012 and
her son Oliver (2.5 years old).
the 2012 festivals. It’s been exciting
and I can’t wait to share more with
you all!” Hilary Sargent is living in
Manhattan with her husband, Joe.
“I’m spending lots of time chasing
around my son, Dash who was born
in November 2010.” (See photo on
page 30.)
Read about Lily Davis’s dream job
marketing fine wines from around the
world on page 20.
1995
Class Representative
Lilla Curran
Congrats to Emily Warren and
Jarrett White on the birth of their
daughter Willow Hannah White
on February 20, 2012 in New
York City.
1996
Class Representatives
Nick Brescia
Merrill Hawkins
Kathrene Tiffany
Katayoun Shahrokhi
Emmy O’Connell tells us, “I do
have news! I am getting married on
June 30 in Bridgehampton, New
York. My Park classmate and best
friend Leah Cumsky-Whitlock
Lavin will be my matron of honor!”
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 33

Hilary Sargent ’94 and son, Dash. Jenny Shoukimas ’94 and Alexis Hawkins were married on Emmy O’Connoll ’96 with fiancé
June 18, 2011.
Dana Serman Lambert. The couple will
marry on June 30, 2012.
1997 15 TH REUNION
Class Representatives
Sarah Robbat
Sarah Conway
Suzy McManmon
Liz Grote Ouellet and her husband
Justin Ouellet welcomed their second
child, Hayley Anne Ouellet, on
September 21. Hayley weighed
6 lbs 4 oz. and joins her big brother,
Dylan, who is 3 years old. Liz is a
sixth grade English teacher at the
Galvin Middle School in Wakefield.
1998
Class Representatives
Lydia Hawkins
Meg Lloyd
Sarah Swett
Doctor Caitlin Connolly reports,
“I am now working as an internal
medicine intern at UMASS. I will
start my radiology residency next
year at the Beth Israel Deaconess in
Boston.” Last August, Lydia Potter
married F. Eckert Snyder in Newport.
Park alums in attendance included
Diana Potter Chevignard ’95, Ladd
Thorne ’96, and Astrid Levis-
Thorne. We hear from the Steppingstone
alumni newsletter that Asha
Best is a doctoral student in the
American Studies program at Rutgers
University, focusing on issues involving
mobility and citizenship.
1999
Class Representatives
Elizabeth Weyman
Susanna Whitaker-Rahilly
Colin Arnold
2000
Class Representative
Jessica Whitman
We hear from the Steppingstone
alumni newsletter that Luana Bessa
is working towards here PhD in
counseling psychology at the University
of Texas. She writes from
Austin, “I proposed my dissertation
in June 2011. Last March, I performed
in a production of Proof in a
community theater in town, which
was amazing and very fulfilling.”
Caroline Goldsmith writes, “After
five years of teaching preschool, I
am finally pursuing my master’s
degree in early childhood education
at Bank Street College of Education
in New York City. I will begin in the
fall and I couldn’t be more excited!”
Read about Oxford University scholars
Freddy Deknatel (Arabic) on page 22
and Benjamin Stevens (Ancient
Greek) on page 24.
2001
Class Representative
Ben Bullitt
Caitlin Taylor married Sam Reiche
on New Year’s Eve in Brookline
with a number of Parkies in attendance:
Caitlin’s brothers, Andrew
’96 and Stephen Taylor ’93, bridesmaids
Catherine Zweig ’01 and
Suzanna Lee ’01, and Class of
2001 friends Jessica Kerry, George
Denny, Chris Burrage, Jennie
Tucker, Lindsay Arnold, and 1996
classmates George Sargent, Austin
Diamond, Kathrene Tiffany, and
Ladd Thorne. We live in the South
End and I’ll be graduating from the
Harvard School of Public Health
with a master’s in health policy and
management. In July, I’ll be starting a
job as a product strategy manager at
Athena Health.”
Caitlin Dick teaches English at three
elementary schools in Marseille, France.
Read about her on page 26.
34 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
2002 10 TH REUNION
Class Representatives
Alejandro Alvarado
Alex Lebow
Molly Boskey will graduate from
Lesley University with a master’s in
visual arts this May. Congratulations!
Big brother Dylan snuggles with Hayley
Anne Ouellet, daughter of Liz Grote
Ouellet ’97.
Lydia Potter ’98 and F. Eckert Snyder at their August 2011 wedding in Newport.

Amanda Walton ’95
AMANDA WALTON first found her spark as an all-star athlete
here at The Park School. Later, in high school at St. Paul’s, she
was a tri-varsity athlete in field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse,
and earned many secondary school athletic awards. During her
freshman year at Yale University, Amanda was named Ivy League rookie-of-the
year for her performance in both varsity women’s field hockey and varsity
women’s lacrosse. As a sophomore, she received First-Team All-Ivy honors in
both sports. But just days after finishing her sophomore year at Yale, Amanda’s
car was demolished by another vehicle that was fleeing the police. In a split
second her life drastically changed: Amanda was in a one-month shut-eye coma,
suffered a massive brain injury and is now mostly confined to a wheelchair.
But the determined athlete inside Amanda never gave up. Part of her
rehabilitation included walking with assistance in a pool, but she did not stop
there. After many hours in the water, Amanda’s swimming therapy evolved into
something more and she began swimming 800 yards twice a week using only
one arm and one leg. Years later, after hours upon hours of training, Amanda
competed in the United States/Canadian Paralympic games, where she won the
gold in the 200, 100 & 50m freestyle events. Later that year, the Mayor of
Ketchum, Idaho (where Amanda resides), declared April 5, 2010, Amanda
Walton Day “in honor of her remarkable athletic achievements and her overall
inspirational presence in our community.” Each day, Amanda continues to
inspire people to never give up.
Born in Boston, Amanda attended Park for 10 years, from Pre-
Kindergarten through Grade VIII. All four of Amanda’s siblings also attended
Park: Francie Walton Karlen ’87, Jenny Walton Burke ’91, David Walton ’93
and her twin sister Hilary Walton ’95.
We are so honored to count Amanda as part of the Park family. She
exemplifies the strength and character of someone who has fought through
hardship and has never given up. Her remarkable story and achievements
remind all of us to push ourselves to take on new challenges, and to dream.
October 2011
From top to bottom: Family, friends and former classmates gather in the Park School library
to celebrate Amanda following morning meeting; Hilary Walton ’95, Amanda Walton ’95 and
Jenny Walton Burke ‘91; Grade IX poses with Amanda following their question and answer
session; Andrew Segar joins for the Class of ’95 group shot! Hilary Walton, Eve Wadsworth
Lehrman, Katherine Burrage Schmitt, Tod Hynes and Amanda Walton (all Class of ’95)
Alumni Achievement Award Celebration
Amanda Walton returned to Park on October 21 to accept the 2011 Alumni Achievement
Award at a very special Morning Meeting. The theater was standing room only as
Amanda’s former classmates and teachers joined the Park community to hear her story of
perseverance and determination. When Amanda shared her inspirational story, flanked by
her sisters at the podium, there wasn’t a dry eye in the theater. The whole school was
thrilled to welcome Amanda back to Park and could not be prouder to call her an alumna.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 35

S O U T H E N D P A R T Y
Kathrene Tiffany ’96 and Julia Lloyd Johannsen
’93 hosted a dinner party in the South End
for alumni from the 1990s with special guest Phil
Gambone (English and social studies teacher
from 1977– 2004). It was a great evening of
reconnecting with friends and recollecting back
on favorite memories of Park.
From the top: Alumni from the 1990s gathered for an elegant
dinner with former teacher Phil Gambone; Tam DeVaughn ’96,
Diana Potter Chevignard ’95, Kathrene Tiffany ’96, Greg
Kadetsky ’96 and Merrill Hawkins ’96; Tam DeVaughn ’96,
Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93 and Clark Freifeld ’93; Lilla Curran ’95
and Caitlin Tierney ’99
In March, Loren Galler Rabinowitz ’01 bumped into three Park fifth graders at
the WWII Memorial. The girls (Eliza Lord, Charlotte Grossman and Annie
DiAdamo — all Class of 2016), who play on the Newton 12 and Under team,
were in Washington D.C. to see the sites and play in a soccer tournament.
2003
Class Representative
Diana Rutherford
We hear from the Steppingstone
alumni newsletter that Laniesha
Gray was the keynote speaker for
the Steppingstone Foundation’s
annual meeting in October. She is
pursuing her master’s in education at
Northeastern University while working
at Codman Academy as an associate
inclusion teacher.
2004
Class Representatives
Molly Lebow
Steven Fox
On April 28, Michael Cox will
graduate from the University of
Michigan. Congratulations, Michael!
2005
36 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
Class Representative
Lily Bullitt
Last summer, Alex Tejada was in
Guatemala doing public health
research. His program, funded by the
National Institutes of Health and
administered by the Department of
Epidemiology of the University of
Alabama at Birmingham School of
Public Health, offers qualified students
research training opportunities
in the biomedical and health-related
sciences in developing countries.
Trainees plan their research projects
under supervision of a UAB faculty
member and their foreign mentor
and conduct their work at a collaborating
research institution under
supervision of the foreign mentor. He
also recently won a HOPE Scholarship
through the Harvard Medical
School Biomedical Careers Success
Program. Congratulations, Alex!
2006
Class Representative
McCall Cruz
2007
Class Representative
Thomas Cope
Ben Schwartz
Will Manes is a sophomore at the
Boston University School of Management
and is the vice president of
marketing for his class.
2008
Class Representatives
Manizeh Afridi
Marielle Rabins
After graduating from Phillips Academy,
Kendall MacRae started at
Dartmouth this past fall. She is a
member of the Varsity Swimming and
Diving program as a diver and was
named an All-American diver last
spring. Her younger sister Lilybet
MacRae ’10 is also an All-American
diver!
2009
Class Representatives
Mercedes Garcia-Orozco
Cary Williams
Will Poss and Toby Porter were both
chosen to play for the East in the
NEPSAC East-West Boys’ Soccer All

1. 2. 3.
11.
9.
4. 5.
From top left:
1. Director of Development
Bea Sanders with Garrett ’86 and
Becky Solomon. 2. Julia Lloyd
Johannsen ’93 gets a big hug! 3.
Cary Williams ’10, Julian Sayhoun ’09
and Mercedes Garcia-Orozco ’10
4. 2011 classmates Hadley Eadie
and Sylvie Florman 5. The class of
2011 reunites at Park! 6. Ned Mitchell ’11, Janice Allen, and Bassil
Bacare ’11 7. Sarah Clavijo ’11 is all smiles hugging a friend. 8.
Who doesn’t love a donut eating contest? 9. Alumni and friends
gather on the Faulkner House lawn 10. Chowing down on
watermelon 11. Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89
Alumni Clambake 2011
On a perfect fall day in September, over 100 Park alumni
and their families celebrated the end of summer at the
Annual Park Alumni Clambake. It was one of the
sunniest days for this event in many years! Many classes
were represented and all
10.
feasted on fresh lobster,
clam chowder, and all the
trimmings. Alumni enjoyed catching up with
present and former faculty members including
Janice Allen, Maria Fleming Alvarez ’81, Dean
Conway, Greg Cope ’71, Comfort Halsey Cope,
Alice Perera Lucey ’77 and Margo Smith. Our
youngest guests
participated in a donuteating
contest and
potato sack races. A fun
day was had by all!
8.
6.
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 37
7.

1
Clockwise from top:
1. Mabel Gantos, Juliet
Henry, Louie Feingold, and Jaleel
Williams — all Class of 2012 2. Class of
2010 friends Emily Hoyt, Annie Goodridge,
Jonathan Sands, and Chris Collins-Pisano 3. Emma Mehlman ’11, Dana
Welshman-Studley ’85, Hadley Eadie ’11, and Annika Singh ’11 4. (please
crop tighter) Steve Kellogg, Henry Muggia ’11, Aaron Yemane ’11, Oliver
Rordorff ’11 5. Caroline Muggia, Noa Sklar, Hadley Eadie, Emma
Mehlman — all Class of 2011 — with Bob Little 6. Jerry Katz, Jess Franks ’09,
Cary Williams ’09, Josh Ruder ’09 7. 2009 classmates: Mercedes Garcia-
Orozco, Jess Franks, Cary Williams
and Lexie Sparrow 8. Janice
Allen and Alex Tejada ’05
9. Who wears it best?
Sami Sparrow and
Fiona Ross — both
Class of 2012
9
2
Alumni from the
classes of 2007–2011
returned to Park for the
annual Young Alumni Bagel
Breakfast before Yule Festival.
The event has grown into a
tradition for Park’s most
recent graduates—with
more than 50 alumni
attending!
YOUNG ALUMNI
B A G E L B R E A K F A S T
8
38 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
3
7
4
6
5

Star Game this past fall. Will is a
goalie at Phillips Andover and Toby is
a midfielder at Middlesex School.
Nikoi Coley-Ribeiro will graduate
from BB&N this year. He has been
accepted at Eckerd College and
received a presidential merit award
scholarship for his strong academic
record.
2010
Class Representatives
Annie Goodridge
Gilad Seckler
Michela Thomsen
2011
Class Representatives
Eliza Thomas
Grace Donnell Kilmer
Read about Bassil Bacare’s love of the
Spanish language on page 28.
Congratulations to Carole and David
Lawton on the arrival of their first
grandson, Ollie Leil Alexander Lawton.
News of Current and
Former Faculty
Juliet Baker writes from Maine:
“Happy. Paul working at Waldo
County Hospital, while I volunteer at
the Belfast Library through the
church, and as a teacher at Senior
College. Velvet (our 4-year-old lab)
and I walk miles through all this
beauty. Topo (almost 18) still catches
mice!” Congratulations to Carole and
David Lawton on the birth of their
first grandson, Ollie Leil Alexander
Lawton, who arrived in February
weighing 6 lbs, 9 oz.
Clara Peabody Lawrence, the
daughter of Amanda and Abbott
Lawrence ’85, was born in October.
Emily Warren ’95 gave birth to
daughter Willow Hannah White in
February.
Arrivals
1985
Amanda and Abbott Lawrence
Clara Peabody Lawrence
October 6, 2011
1989
Baird Ruch and Ali Epker Ruch
Henry and George Ruch
January 21, 2012
1995
Jarrett White and Emily Warren
Willow Hannah White
February 20, 2012
1997
Justin Ouellet and Liz Grote Ouellet
Hayley Anne Ouellet
September 21, 2011
1990
Eliza Wilmerding
Luciana Wilmerding
February 7, 2012
Weddings
1991
Dan Schiff and Kerri Bowen
January 21, 2012
1994
Jenny Shoukimas and Alexis
Hawkins
June 18, 2011
1998
Lydia Potter and F. Eckert Snyder
August 27, 2011
2000
Caitlin Taylor and Sam Reiche
December 31, 2011
2004
Sarah Hindman and Itzik Yarkoni
February 20, 2012
In Memoriam
Deborah Abrams
July 15, 2011
Mother of Leah Abrams ’08
Dorinda Burrows
October 27, 2011
Mother of Calvin Burrows ’59,
Sarah Burrows ’71 and grandmother
of Julia Borden ’03
Parents’ Association President
1959–1960, Trustee 1959–1965
Wilfred E. Calmas
September 24, 2011
Father of Richard Calmas ’76
Edgar Crocker
February 2, 2012
Father of Edith Sturgis Crocker ’73,
Heather Crocker Faris ’74, and
Haskell Crocker ’78
Husband of the late Josephine “Joan”
Crocker (for whom the Joan Crocker
Award for Community Service is
named)
Joan Dunphy Curwen ’38
January 16, 2012
Aunt of Robin Burlingham ’75 and
Nick Burlingham ’77
Arthur Georgaklis
November 30, 2011
Father of Steven Georgaklis ’79
Harry J. Groblewski
March 13, 2012
Father of Lucia A Jenkins ’69 and
Tom Groblewski ’70
Headmaster (1964–1969)
Béla Kalman
June 26, 2011
Father of Eric Zimberg ’73
Priscilla Heath Kunhardt ’26
October 15, 2010
Harold Langley
November 21, 2011
Park Maintenance Staff (1989–1994)
John Morss
February 21, 2012
Father of Jennifer Morss Drayton ’79
Leila Perlmutter
January 18, 2012
Mother of Steven P. Perlmutter ’64
and the late Ina Sue Perlmutter '67
Sarah “Robin” F. R. Randolph ’79
December 10, 2011
Daughter of Helen & Peter Randolph
Trustee (1969–75)
Sister of Christopher Randolph ’74,
and Helen Tod Randolph ’77
Dr. John Shillito
March 16, 2012
Father of Betsy Shillito ’73
Sara Narins Sussman ’88
October 31, 2011
Dr. William H. Thomas
November 18, 2011
Father of Susan Thomas Macleod ’83
and Annie Thomas Williams ’75
Caroline Thompson ’95
January 6, 2012
Sister of Jeffrey Thompson ’99
Satto Tonegawa ’08
October 25, 2011
Brother of Hidde Tonegawa ’02 and
Hanna Tonegawa ’04
Kevin White
January 28, 2012
Father of Caitlin White ’74 and
Elizabeth White ’77
Mayor of Boston 1968–1984
The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012 39

R E M E M B E R I N G . . .
Sara Narins Sussman ’88
I HAVE SO many memories of Park, and
one of my favorites is visiting Heathwood
with Sara and Shaun. So much
laughter that day. Sara was a sweetheart.
Beautiful, fun, and loved to smile.
She was also a powerful writer. Her
Newsweek article left me speechless. The
last sentence is heartbreaking. It has
been months since we got the news of
Sara's death, yet it is still hard to comprehend.
The sadness remains.
— Michael Rosenfield ’88
SARA WAS A KIND, upbeat, and loyal
friend. When I think of her, I think of her
big smile that always managed to be
contagious. Our lives touched at various
points in time and I was so glad to
reconnect with her over the last few
years. She maintained her positive outlook
and sense of humor throughout her
battle with cancer and never complained
about how unfair and unlucky she was
to suffer so greatly. I think what I'll
always carry with me about her is the
importance of facing hardships with
humor and grace, and to always advocate
for your own health.
— Kim Ablon Whitney '88
Remembering. . .
Caroline
Thompson ’95
The following tribute was written by Caroline’s roommate
and teammates from Yale University.
aroline (known as “CT” to many) was
a force of nature. Her humor, profound
intelligence, grace, and keen eye for the
most interesting and absurd in daily life made
for a beautiful and complex friend.
Memories of Caroline spill over with excitement,
warmth and the sense of joy that encircled
her — like a whirling dervish she would rush into
one’s room at Yale with a side-splitting joke she
was bursting to share, followed rapidly by her
contagious ’happy cackle’. She’d surprise those
SARA AND I met on one of the first days
of Mrs. Goganian’s second grade class at
recess. Sara was confident, intelligent,
fun, and full of energy. I remember her
coming straight up to me, asking me all
about myself and developing a rapport.
In the first few weeks of class, even
though she was new to Park, she introduced
me to other classmates and made
it a point to include me in various activities
both in and out of the classroom.
She knew at a very early age how to create
and sustain a friendship.
At Park, Sara flourished. She was a
very diligent and committed student with
a passion for learning. Many years later,
she could demonstrate a near perfect
recall of every assignment and class project
by grade! However, her most
remarkable qualities were that she was
always enthusiastic, kind, and understanding
to everyone, which impressed
peers and teachers alike.
Sara often remarked that The Park
School taught her how to be an
“explorer of life.” With her experience at
Park as a reference point, Sara traveled
the world, succeeded in several careers
and touched many people along the
way. When she eventually became a
teacher, Sara was proud to pass on
lessons learned at Park to her students.
Sara was a wonderful friend and
will hopefully continue to be an inspiration
to many.
— Abby Witkin '88
O
closest to her with sweet, thoughtful notes to
brighten even the most mundane moments —
wishing one a happy day of classes, another a
restful night after studying.
And her inspiring and inimitable dynamism
was boundless — on the field hockey pitch or as
an innately brilliant scholar in the classroom,
mashing with the other officers-to-be in Naval
training camp or while honing her craft of choice
— poetry. A gifted artist and athlete and astute,
mentally dexterous student, Caroline made it all
look so effortless. Indeed, to her it was.
Caroline is an alumna of The Park School,
St. Paul’s School, and Yale University, where she
was chosen by her peers to captain the field
hockey team her senior year. She also successfully
competed in varsity squash and sparred in
the intramural boxing league.
In 2003, Caroline enlisted and trained with
the US Navy, becoming a US Naval Intelligence
Officer with top security clearance stationed in
southern California, a place that would woo her
back later. Caroline, always an animal lover, later
moved back to Boston and worked at the Angell
Animal Medical Center for several years before
returning to California.
Caroline was accompanied on her recent
cross-country move back west by her beloved
40 The Park School Bulletin | Spring 2012
R E M E M B E R I N G . . .
Satto Tonegawa ’08
ne would never truly know exactly
what Satto was thinking about at
any given moment; a certain mysterious
radiance about him was always kept. We
could not help but watch his next moves
in anticipation.
Our brother always conserved his
valuable energy, and only showcased it for
those rare occasions he deemed necessary.
When one could successfully entice him
in strong conversation, he became electrified
with complex concepts and theories,
brilliantly conveying them with eloquent wit and vibrato. When he
would discover a stimulating musical piece, he studied and mastered it,
making it his own. He would research, analyze, inquire opinions, and
take criticism, but always arrive at conclusions honest with himself.
Since an early age, Satto already understood his priorities. He
always maintained a clear vision of his aspirations, making breakthrough
discoveries in science and traveling through other dimensions.
He could never be tempted by diversions from his path. While such
tasks appear quite daunting to the common man, Satto seemed to find
everything just within his reach. His own, challenging perceptions of
the world became, for him, attainable realities.
The fact is that we are all planets suspended in space, eternally
interlocked in an orbital dance, our trajectories of life constantly
shaped by the gravitational influences of others. Satto’s momentum,
however, was too strong to be pulled in; he could never be convinced
to adjust his course. Instead, like a brilliant, bright comet, he caused
others to be attracted to him; he shot into our solar system just for a
fleeting moment —long enough to make us yearn for more.
Hanna Tonegawa ’04
Hidde Tonegawa ’02
companion Romeow, her cat. A new and longawaited
career in creative writing was starting to
materialize on the horizon. She was, and at heart
had always been, a poet. Caroline was enrolled
at UCLA and working towards an esteemed
MFA program at UC Irvine. Her untimely death
deprives those of us left behind of what would
have undoubtedly been an important body of
work. Her talent was natural and immediate.
Caroline is remembered by her family and
many friends as being a beautiful, magnetic
woman who left lasting impressions on those
who passed through her orbit; no one can forget
her unparalleled, daring, pithy sense of humor,
formidable yet magnanimous character, intellectual
acumen and disarming loyalty.
Though her passing from our lives has
been tragically premature, we can find solace in
the fact that Caroline lived every day she had to
its absolute fullest. Caroline lived more in her 31
years than most will even if given 90 years on
this earth. She is deeply missed by all whom she
touched, and is survived by her parents and
brother.
“If there’s another world, he lives in bliss;If there
is none, he made the best of this.”
—ROB E RT B U RN S

In Memoriam
Harry J. Groblewski
February 24, 1917–March 13, 2012
Headmaster 1964–1969
The Park School community was saddened by the
death of former Headmaster Harry Groblewski
on March 13. He is survived by his wife Isabella
(Taylor) Groblewski, with whom he shared 65 years of
marriage, as well as their children Mary L. Starck, Casimir
R. Groblewski, Lucia A. Jenkins ’69, and Dr. Thomas
Groblewski ’70.
Before coming to Park in the mid-1960s, Harry was the
founding headmaster of The Spartanburg Day School in
Spartanburg, South Carolina. He graduated from Phillips
Andover and Yale, and during WWII was a volunteer
ambulance driver for the American Field Service in the
Middle East. He later taught at Andover, St. George’s, and
St. John’s School in Houston before being named headmaster
of the new Spartanburg Day School in 1957.
In his five years at Park’s helm, Harry made many significant
contributions to the School that are still evident
today. Thanks to Harry’s leadership, Park enjoys a ninth
grade, oral foreign language instruction, a community service
program, an advisory system for students in Grades
VI–IX, a student Anthology, Parents’ Handbook, The Park Parent
newsletter, and an alumni organization. Perhaps his most
enduring contribution is “thoughtful long-range planning.”
At Harry’s urging, the Board launched a
Development Committee to consider long-range questions
for the School. The Committee’s findings led Park
to its decision to expand and search for a campus larger
than Kennard Road could provide.
Harry’s life-long career in education continued following
his five years as Park’s headmaster. He served as executive
secretary of the Independent School Association of
Massachusetts and spent eight years as head of the English
Department and dean of the faculty at The Pingree School
in South Hamilton before founding the Glen Urquhart
School, a K–8 school in Beverly.
In retirement, Harry was an active volunteer. He served as
a trustee of the Topsfield Library for 11 years, helping to
enlarge their general fund and endowment and to see the
building of a new wing. He ran reading and discussion
groups and taught Creative Writing at the Beverly Senior
Center. For his work with blind senior citizens, Harry was
honored by the Massachusetts Association for the Blind
and received the Silver Dove award from Governor
Michael Dukakis for his efforts on behalf of the senior
community.
Harry’s family will celebrate his life at a memorial service
on Saturday, June 2, 2012, at 2 p.m. at the Glen Urquhart
School, 74 Hart Street, Beverly Farms, Massachusetts
01915. All are welcome.
Condolences may be sent to Isabella Groblewski,
Oceanview, 3 Essex Street, Beverly, Massachusetts 01915.

The Park School
171 Goddard Avenue
Brookline, Massachusetts 02445
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