EHS Pillars - Fall 2016

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MEET THE TRUSTEES Elected at the Diocesan Council Rod Cutsinger Rod Cutsinger—a founding investor of Advanced Telecommunications, American Funeral Services, and Worldpages—is now the chairman of the Cutsinger Family Office and the Sue Nan and Rod Cutsinger Foundation. Cutsinger and his wife, Sue Nan, are the parents of alumnus Bradley '90 and the proud grandparents of EHS sophomore Tate. They are members of St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, where Cutsinger has served in many leadership positions. He joins the EHS Board of Trustees as a member of the Building and Grounds Committee. J. Todd Frazier '88 Todd Frazier '88 is the System Director of Houston Methodist Hospital's Center for Performing Arts Medicine and President of the National Organization for Arts in Health. He was the founder of American Festival for the Arts and co‐founder of Houston Arts Partners. Frazier, a composer, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and the Julliard School in New York City. He is married to EHS alumna Jennifer McReynolds Frazier '88 and they have two children, daughter Kenzie, who attends River Oaks Baptist, and son Mac, a sophomore at EHS. Frazier is a member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and St. Luke's Methodist Church. Susan C. Garwood Susan Garwood serves on the boards of the Susan Vaughan Foundation, Glenwood Cemetery, and the Ripley Foundation. In addition, she volunteers at the Garden Club of Houston, the Clayton Library for Genealogical Research, and Preservation Houston. As a member of the EHS Board of Trustees, Garwood's focus is the Advancement Committee. Garwood and her husband, Dr. George Peterkin III, have two children. Their son, John, is a junior at St. Thomas High School and their daughter, Kate, is a sophomore at EHS. Garwood and her family are members of Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. George O. McDaniel III George McDaniel III is the chairman of Saber Power Services. He and his wife, Ann, have three children who graduated from EHS: George McDaniel IV '00, Mary McDaniel O'Black '01, and William '04. Son‐in‐law Weston O'Black '00 is also an alumnus. The McDaniels are members of St. John the Divine Episcopal Church. In addition to his service at EHS, McDaniel is a board member of the Chinquapin Preparatory School. McDaniel joins the EHS Board of Trustees as a member of the Finance Committee. Duncan K. Underwood '89 Duncan Underwood, a graduate from the Class of 1989, is beginning his fourth term of service on the EHS Board of Trustees where he serves on the Advancement Committee. He has served on the Trees for Houston Board of Trustees, the Fondren Foundation Board of Trustees, and the St. Edward's University Board of Trustees. Underwood was the first official member of the EHS Alumni Association and is a past president. Underwood and his wife, Sarah, are the proud parents of daughter Riley and son Austin—two future Knights. 34
A FEW WORDS ON TEACHING by Emma Lyders Forgive yourself. Just have fun. Hold your breath until Thanksgiving. One after another, each piece of advice becomes an aphorism that rolls through my brain as the kids roll into the room. They're not young, not old, but making their own age‐associated adjective. I try to smile enough but not too much, I try to introduce myself, I try to shake their hands as they walk across the threshold and into my life, I try to read in their faces which palms not to touch. I catch on pretty quickly. The opposite of a music venue, the classroom fills from back to front. I can tease them, I can shame them, I can pull that embarrassed half‐smile from stiff cheeks, but unless I demand it, they won't join me where it's most lonely: where the teacher stands. My hands are still sore from pulling thumbtacks from walls that never wanted to be punctured, and they'll be sore next week when I make my own mark. When we do. I look out to find a blur of the same face. Some blonde‐haired, some brown, some dancer thin, some basketball strong. But those faces, excited, restrained, at rapt attention, afraid to speak, afraid to break the ice that'll melt in time. I can't stop staring at them, into their eyes, away, and back again. At first I can't feel. I'm just in it, in here, with them. Then I get it. It's heart. Theirs, mine, what hangs in the balance between us, what lingers in the room after they've run from it, backpacks bouncing and sliding and pinching. It's in this moment that I realize the kind of teacher I am, the kind of teacher I'll become, pulling my newly‐minted profession on as if it's a full‐body costume. It never comes off. The bell can ring and they can leave, but I'm still a teacher. One that lets them be who they are, what very few ever did for me. The few that did? They mattered to me because I mattered to them. I imagine a ping pong table between us, and every question I pose, every universal meaning I offer, a ball I hit over the net. Will they hit it back? Will they catch it and hold it in their hands? Will they hit it to a classmate? Will they drop the racket and slap the ball back with their hands, so fast I have to duck as it whizzes by? Or, will they let it fall to the floor, all of us watching, waiting, wondering how many times it will take before someone makes a move. But they aren't balls, they're words that fly through the air. Words I speak, words they hear, words they return, words I write, words they write. There is no script, for either one of us, and in that way we are the same. The Last Word The syllabi get passed out, the rules and standards get set, and we fall deep into more words, different words—the words someone else wrote. By the end of the second day, I've learned 60 names. By the third day, I'm no longer in a match against the entire class. We're on the same side. Not everyone comes willingly, but eventually they'll feel a part of the universe of the story, the one we're reading, the one we're creating together, the one they'll make on their own. Each student finds his or her home base for the year, and we build a community in this room of desks and chairs, whiteboards and collaged walls. Six weeks in, I stand at the front of the room, the white board behind me, judgmental in its blankness. I open The Great Gatsby, and they follow, desperate for something to do that will keep them awake, this tiny class of 12 seated in a circle. Birthday. The word seems raised from the page, isolated under its own thunderstorm, like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. "I just remembered, today's my birthday," Nick tells us. I repeat his words, I pause. Before I can stop myself, I'm writing on the board though I don't really know why. The questions pore out of me, some rhetorical, some demanding a response. And then, that student—every class has one who does this—breaks the silence, with a truth that is comedic for how painful it is: "Sounds like a pretty lame birthday." We laugh in unison, and then we talk about Nick and Gatsby. But it isn't about them, it's about us. The books are vehicles, objects of transport into a shared world where we both reside. It's the gray matter—what lives between the letters and words and in the blank space on the page, what I pull from paper and push into their minds—that pulls us together. Only we know what just happened. And I have to hope, years from now, they'll remember Holden holding fast to his own innocence, and Nora standing up for herself, and Annie John leaving home, and that they'll never forget the beauty of language, and how grammar gets in your way if it isn't on your side, and finding meaning in the lives of others. Thankfully, this is a song I can put on repeat and trust that it will never get old. In addition to teaching English I and II at EHS, Emma Lyders is a published essayist and professional book editor. 35
Page 1 and 2: Lights in the Darkness • As Irons
Page 3 and 4: The Episcopal High School Magazine
Page 5 and 6: SAVE THE DATE Auction Gala 02‐24
Page 7 and 8: Head of School Ned Smith greets the
Page 9 and 10: News at EHS Wilson and Little Stand
Page 11 and 12: News at EHS Fall SPC Showcases Vali
Page 13 and 14: Top Destinations for Gappers Cyclin
Page 15 and 16: The Gap Year of my time in Bolivia
Page 17 and 18: ALUMNI LEADERSHIP DAY EMPHASIZES CA
Page 19 and 20: Alumni Leadership Day chance Chris
Page 21 and 22: Alumni Leadership Day The Arts and
Page 23 and 24: AS IRON SHARPENS IRON The Rev. Phil
Page 25 and 26: GOT BLUE From the Archives Dean of
Page 27 and 28: the highest per capita orphan rate
Page 29 and 30: Once back at school in August, Geib
Page 31 and 32: JESSICA ADAMS English Teacher and C
Page 33 and 34: PAUL REVAZ Stagecraft Teacher Paul
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Page 39 and 40: 2016 ‐ 2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Cha

EHS Pillars - Fall 2016

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