Summer Newsletter 2017

A Newsletter for Parents, Alumnae, and Friends • Summer 2017
We are the champions!
It was a banner year for Marymount athletics! Varsity Volleyball had an exceptional, undefeated (28-0) season and
was crowned both AAIS and NYSAIS Tournament Champion. This was Marymount’s first state title since the 1995
Varsity Basketball victory. Varsity Soccer also had a fantastic year (16-2), winning the AAIS Tournament and coming
in second in the NYSAIS Tournament. The team was featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes in a segment on gender equality
in sports. The Varsity Track & Field team went undefeated for the season and won its second consecutive AAIS
Championship title. Eliza B. (Class XII) broke three school records this season and now holds seven school records
altogether. Congratulations to all of our scholar-athletes on their impressive displays of skill, perseverance, and
teamwork this year. GO LIONS!
Summer 2017 1

Fall
Sports Recap
Varsity Cross Country had a fantastic season,
placing 1st in the AAIS Invitational and 6th in the
NYSAIS Championships.
Combined with The Spence School for the fourth
year in a row, the Varsity Field Hockey team
is to be congratulated for their dedication and
determination to develop as players both on and off
the field.
With an overall record of 16 wins and 2 losses,
Varsity Soccer won the AAIS Tournament and
was runner up in the NYSAIS Tournament.
JV Soccer had a solid season, placing second in
the JV Soccer Invitational.
Varsity Volleyball had an extraordinary season,
going undefeated with 28 wins. The team was
crowned AAIS League Champion and NYSAIS
Tournament Champion.
JV Volleyball finished the season in 5th place in
the AAIS league and made it to the quarterfinals in
the AAIS Tournament.
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Marymount School of New York

Winter
Varsity Basketball was ranked 4th in the AAIS league
and were quarterfinalists in the AAIS Tournament.
Also ranked 4th in the AAIS league, JV Basketball made it
to the semifinals in the AAIS Tournament.
In the ISFL Tournament, Varsity Fencing placed 5th in
Girl’s Foil, 6th in Girl’s Épée, and 4th in Girl’s Sabre.
Varsity Swimming had a solid season, holding a record
of 3–3 and placing 5th in the AAIS Swim Championships.
Varsity Winter Track had a fun season participating in
numerous non-league meets. The team looks forward to
next year when the AAIS league will begin to host regular
competition.
Spring
Varsity Badminton worked hard this season and was a
quarterfinalist in the AAIS Tournament.
Despite multiple rainouts, Varsity Softball is to be
commended for their commitment and effort throughout
the season.
Varsity Lacrosse was ranked 4th in the AAIS league
and made it to the semifinals of the AAIS Tournament.
Varsity Tennis had a tremendous year, ranking
2nd in the AAIS league and placing 2nd in the AAIS
Tournament.
Varsity Track & Field was the undefeated league
champion, winning its second consecutive title at the
AAIS Championships by only half a point. The team
placed 6th in the NYSAIS Championships.
Summer 2017 3

Planning
an Ideal City
As part of their study of community, Class I homeroom teachers
collaborated with STEAM teacher Maureen Reilly and NYU student teacher
Daniel Aktas to design an interdisciplinary project that allowed students to
become city planners. Class I began by taking a virtual tour of Marymount’s
neighborhood on Google Maps and researching the types of buildings,
parks, and structures that make up city blocks. As part of a unit in math
class, students explored how 2D shapes transform into 3D shapes and
learned the names of these shapes.
Imagining a bird’s-eye view, the girls designed their own ideal city
blocks by first drawing a 2D map of their city on paper. Learning how to
manipulate 3D objects using modeling software, Class I then translated
these maps into 3D models using the MakerBot Printshop app on the iPad.
“As 3D design becomes more consumer friendly and as app-based 3D
products become more developmentally accessible to younger students,
we are able to integrate 3D printing into the Lower School curriculum in a
more meaningful way,” explains Ms. Reilly. Using these 3D printed blocks
to design their ideal city, Class I carefully planned their city grids to spread
out municipal and commercial structures so that all residents have equal
access to resources.
Once their cities were built, the girls designed the transportation
systems for their cities. They learned how sensor-based robots work
and programmed line-following robots called Ozobots to traverse the
3D-printed cities, simulating different modes of transportation. “This
integrated project called upon the girls to apply concepts taught in math
and social studies to a real-world scenario,” explains Class I homeroom
teacher, Dena Savarese. “It was the perfect culmination of our study of
communities, allowing the girls to examine their place in the world -- from
our classroom to our city to our world.”
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Marymount School of New York

Sharing Our Stories
This year, the Global Relationships and Cultural Exchange
(GRACE) Committee focused on the theme of “sharing
our stories” as a way to celebrate our unique identities
and find unity through diversity. School nurse and Lower
Mid GRACE representative Andrea Padilla was inspired to
develop a project that would facilitate the sharing of stories
in the Lower Mid. The girls began by becoming pen pals
with students at the School of Hope in Zambia, exchanging
letters that detailed their backgrounds and experiences. As
Mrs. Padilla explains, “Somewhere in the appreciation of an
unfolding story, the magic of understanding and acceptance
happens, discrimination dissolves, and bridges are formed.
We believed that this pen pal exercise would unveil our many
similarities, as well as provoke understanding, empathy, and
appreciation for our differences.”
To visually represent this convergence, Lower Mid students
participated in creating a quilt that stitched together their
distinct identities into a unified whole. In collaboration
with their families, each girl selected a swatch of fabric to
represent a part of her story – an important relationship
or event, an accomplishment, a challenge – and wrote an
explanation of the significance of this piece of material. After
drafting and editing their descriptions in Language Arts, the
girls gave voice to their stories and presented their fabric
squares to their class. For example, Annie T. (Class III) chose
a special fuchsia fabric from a sari because her “dad is Indian
and [she] wore a sari made from this fabric to [her] aunt’s
wedding.” Caroline C. (Class V) chose fabric from the shirt
she wore every year to the Father/Daughter Square Dance to
“symbolize the connection [she has] with her dad and how
much fun [they] had when [they] were dancing.”
Assistant to the Headmistress Safeya Carey offered the
expertise of her mother, Elsie Cadet-Greig, to sew the
pieces of fabric together into a beautiful quilt in which every
student’s story is represented. The Lower Mid proudly hung
the quilt in the 82nd Street Commons, along with a collection
of quotes from the students. The quilt project was a powerful
way for the girls to deepen their appreciation for each other’s
unique stories and find commonality between them.
Summer 2017 5

Earthquake
Engineering
Thanks to a restructured Upper Mid science curriculum, Earth
Science was taught for the first time in Class VI this year. In one
unit, students studied the layers of the Earth and the dynamic
processes that shift these layers over time, causing earthquakes.
They investigated the energy waves in these quakes, how these
forces cause destruction, and how to quantify the damage done to
an affected area. In collaboration with the technology department,
our Class VI scientists were then tasked with engineering structures
to better withstand the destructive force of an earthquake.
Students began by building better walls, reinforcing them with
cross-bracing, shear walls, and gussets to make them more
resistant to damage. They also explored base isolation to separate
the building from the lateral movement of the ground during an
earthquake. Applying these building reinforcement strategies, pairs
of Class VI students began ideating and prototyping structures
made of only wood strips, straws, paper, rubber bands, and
binder clips. Without being able to use glue or tape as connectors,
students had to design all connecting pieces using Tinkercad and
the 3D printer. There was a lot of trial and error involved to get
their buildings just right. As Kyra B. explains, “One thing I learned
from this project is that the process of engineering involves lots
of design, testing, and redesign. When problems arise, you can
either make changes to your initial design or design a brand new
solution.”
On the day of the big competition, teams nervously approached the
shaker tables to see if their buildings could withstand one minute
of shaking with at least 150 grams of mass atop the structure.
Science teacher Katie White notes that the “the lightweight and
elegant designs that held the most weight integrated the building
reinforcement techniques the students learned in class and
incorporated creative design elements as well.” Kyra was thrilled
when her building passed the test: “Our structure withstood the
simulated earthquake and held 700 grams of weight! The most
rewarding part was seeing all of our hard work pay off.”
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Marymount School of New York

WOW Student Summit
On November 19, 2016, students from Marymount and other independent
schools around the city gathered for a forum on the empowerment of women.
Loukia A. and Charlotte A. (Class XII), co-presidents of Marymount’s Women
in our World (WOW) club, spearheaded this event and brought the idea from
concept to reality. WOW club moderator Marie O’Brien reflected, “It was
inspiring to witness how students took our lunchtime club discussions about
the impact of gender on every aspect of our lives and showed how to make those
conversations louder, more inclusive, and more potent as a prelude to action.”
The WOW Student Summit attracted eighty attendees for a full day of inspiring
speeches and interactive workshops. The event boasted many notable speakers,
including Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, politicians Ruth Messinger
and Christine Quinn, and filmmaker Abigail Disney. “After months of hard
work and planning alongside Ms. Kutner and Dr. O’Brien, we saw our mission
to inspire and empower girls our own age really come to life with the help of
our incredible speakers,” Charlotte remarked. There were also many studentled
forums on women in the arts, literature, and STEM, as well as engaging
discussions on gender, identity, and female leadership. Charlotte noted, “As I
bounced from room to room that day taking pictures, I found myself listening
in on meaningful conversations. My biggest takeaway is that these impassioned
voices are the voices of our future. We must spend time discussing the problems
we face and the barriers we must break down peacefully yet effectively, for we
are the aspiring politicians, scientists, writers, artists, and agents of change.”
Plans are already underway for the 2017 WOW Summit, which is being led by
Sarah W. and Christina C. (Class XI) and and will highlight women who have
persevered and surmounted barriers in politics, the workplace, the arts, and
other arenas.
Summer 2017 7

Maker Day @
Marymount
On April 8, 2017, Marymount sponsored its fourth annual Maker Day at the 97th Street
Campus. Over 150 Marymount families attended this free event, at which they explored
how digital fabrication and making are transforming learning. Creative problem
solving, play, collaboration, and inquiry aspark imagination and ingenuity.
Most of the workshops were student-led and included such diverse topics as laser
cutting, Minecraft show and tell, prototyping with littleBits, building bridges
(engineering challenges), felting flowers, exploring the Makey Makey, and the
most popular workshop, How to Make SLIME! We are proud of all of the students
who participated, particularly the Lower Mid Marymount Makers club for taking a
leadership role in planning and executing the day. Everyone had a wonderful time!
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Marymount School of New York

Maker-Centered Learning
Marymount School was featured recently
in the book, Maker-Centered Learning.
Written by a team of experts from the Agency
by Design initiative at Harvard Graduated
School of Education’s Project Zero, Maker-
Centered Learning explores the benefits of
maker education and offers a framework for
implementing making into the curriculum. The
team visited our Fab Lab Coordinator Jaymes
Dec in 2012 to study how student-centered
experiential learning was transforming the
traditional classroom setting and fostering the
development of different skill sets.
As the team toured the country visiting similar
maker spaces, they confirmed what Marymount
has long known – that making helps students
develop a sense of agency and builds character.
In particular, the team identified an attitude they
called “maker empowerment: a dispositional
stance in which students understand themselves
as individuals of resourcefulness who can
muster the wherewithal to change their world
through making.” Mr. Dec confirms that this
phenomenon is evident in our students: “As
Marymount continues to integrate makercentered
learning into the community, we
are seeing more and more students who are
intrinsically motivated to work on creative
technology projects inside and outside of
classes. It is not uncommon for students to
work on projects for a year or two or more! This
willingness to persevere through challenges
towards a vision for self-expression is a trait that
will serve our students now and in the future,
as they feel empowered to challenge, shape, and
change the world around them.”
Summer 2017 9

Arts Highlights
Visual Arts
Drama
Music
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Marymount School of New York

BENEFIT 2017
Under the leadership of Benefit Chair Karla Radke, Marymount School
of New York celebrated its 91st anniversary with a Benefit Gala at the
magnificent Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Enchanted by the awesome
space, 600 attendees were treated to musical selections by the School’s
Chamber Choir and DJs AndrewAndrew. Nick Dawes of Antiques
Roadshow conducted the live auction, which included packages featuring
yoga instructor Hilaria Baldwin, athletes Brendan Shanahan and
Patrick Vieira, comedian Jim Gaffigan, chef Geoffrey Zakarian, and TV
personality Katie Couric. It was a truly blessed evening!
Summer 2017 11

Campaign Update
More than halfway to our goal!
Marymount is thrilled to announce that we have raised 53% of our $60-million goal for the
Campaign! We are blessed to have such enthusiastic support from our community, which
was particularly evident during our Winter Challenge, when a donor offered to contribute an
additional $1 million if we could raise $3 million in the first four months of 2017. Thanks to
our generous contributors, we raised $3,020,901 from twenty gifts in just twenty-two days!
We are humbled by and grateful for the overwhelming response to this challenge.
As we continue our journey to build the school of the future for our students, we invite you
to be part of the process. We hope that every member of the Marymount community will feel
included in this historic moment for the School. If you have any questions or would like to
learn more about this project, please contact Cathy Callender at 212-744-4486 x8111.
12 Marymount School of New York
The Chapel

Class Notes
‘57
Barbara Pfeiffer ’57 continues to develop
her Art Aware program, which is inspired by
Marymount. Art Aware is active through the
Salvation Army Kroc Center in Camden, New
Jersey and through posting artwork by Camden
kids on www.artsonia.com.
Susan Neaves ’72 now serves as a District
Aide in the Florida House Legislature, having
moved from a large corporate experience in
banking to aiding her community at large.
‘79
Gay (Gabrielle)
Feldman ’79
recently launched Gay
Feldman Represents,
a boutique management company for
artists, devoted to content creation and
creative direction. In her spare time, she
volunteers at The World Seido Karate
Organization, and is Third Degree Black
Belt in the martial art. Gay is pursuing
her M.A. in Art History and Museum
Education at CCNY.
‘72
‘81
Donna Chrapek Oldenburg ’81 completed
her graduate degree in Clinical Counseling
at Northwestern University and passed the
National Counselor Exam. Donna is now a
Licensed Professional Counselor and a member of the clinical
staff at both Cancer Wellness Center and a private practice in the
Chicago area.
‘88
Laura Gilman
Springer ’88
lives in Westport,
Connecticut with
her husband, Scott Springer, and their
son, Charles.
Yemi
‘97
Getahun
’97 and
her
husband,
Eric Berger, welcomed Adam
Melaku Berger to the world on
January 8, 2017.
Jennifer Heger Cyranski
’97, Jaime Jordan-Didora
’98, Christine Kearney
O’Connell ’98, Caroline
Purcell ’98, Noelle
Campbell Coleman
’99, Mary Kate Kuhner
Fitzgerald ’99, Mary
Colasuonno Tomac ’99, and Megan Mulcahy ’07 proudly
marched together on January 21, 2017 in honor of women’s rights
and human rights.
‘99
Kristina
Negron
Calvey ’99 and
her husband,
Joseph, welcomed baby boy James into
the world on December 12, 2016.
‘00
September
Hilary Bauer
’00 said “I do”
to Ian Larkin on
3, 2016!
Lauran Montella Pancoast ’00
and her husband, Michael, welcomed
their third child, Ruby Jane, in
April. Lauran, Michael, big brother Brayden (4), and big sister
Simone (2) are all enjoying their new baby in their new home in
Connecticut.
‘89
Liz (Elizabeth) Fine ’89 joined VH1 as
the Senior Vice President for Original Series.
She oversees unscripted programming and
new projects moving into production for the
network. She previously worked at FYI and A&E, and she coproduced
Mob Wives with Left Right Productions.
‘96
Angela Torres Chmielewski ’96 joined
Corcoran Real Estate in East Hampton.
‘02
Kaitlin Barry
’02 is currently
working as
the Human
Resources Manager at the
Moscone Center in San Francisco,
California. She relocated to the
Bay Area five years ago after
receiving an M.A. in History and
Global Studies from Iona College. She is continuing her education
this fall at Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco
where she received a full merit scholarship. She also began a new
adventure in May when she married Donald Van Bomel. The two
met while studying for their master’s degrees at Iona.
Summer 2017 13

Class Notes
Cassandra
‘02
Jenkins ’02 has
a music career on
the rise! Cassie
was featured on
“Smart Girls with Amy Poehler” this
past fall for a group sing she leads
in Brooklyn. She recently released
her new album, “Play Till You Win,”
which was featured on Complex, one
of the largest media platforms for
music in New York.
Stephanie Philis Lentz ’02, her husband Paul, and daughter
Jamie recently moved from California to Texas. In San Antonio,
Stephanie teaches 6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th grade social studies at
an all girls’ school, and Paul was recently promoted to Air Force
Major.
Vallie J. Pearson ’02 and her husband, Marcus, welcomed a
baby girl, Margaret Vashti Pearson, into their family on April 11,
2017. All are excited, including big brother Marcus Xavier Pearson
II, who turned two on June 25.
Nicole Stringfellow ’02 currently lives in Albuquerque, New
Mexico. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker who graduated
from the NYU Silver School of Social Work in May 2016. Nicole
is a therapist at First Choice Community Healthcare, working
with an interdisciplinary team of doctors, community health
workers, and other behavioral health clinicians to implement a
program that was funded by HRSA for Suboxone-assisted opioid
dependence treatment.
‘03
Kristina Barko ’03 still lives on the UES
with her husband, Peter. She started working
at the real estate firm RKF & Associates in
February. They are looking forward to doing
some traveling this summer (to Russia,
Germany, Hungary, Sweden, and Denmark!)
Naz Durakoglu ’03 joined the
Atlantic Council after being in the
Obama Administration and recently
testified before a congressional
committee regarding Turkey’s
constitutional referendum.
Alexandra Ropiak Leeder ’03
and her husband, Aaron, welcomed
baby Vivienne Beatrice Leeder on
Saturday, January 21, 2017 (the
same day as the Women’s March!).
‘04
Elisabeth Rennell
Hosmer ’04 and
her husband, Dan,
are expecting another
daughter in July. In April, the family
made a week-long trip to New York, where
Elisabeth spoke to the SWE Next Chapter
at Marymount as their mentor about
engineering opportunities for women. She continues her work as
a Program Manager for a large defense company in Los Angeles,
and remains very involved in STEM outreach. Here is her oldest
daughter, Kirsten (2), visiting Marymount in April.
Haley Rutherford ’04 has been in the
real estate business for eight years. In 2012,
Haley and her mother, Rana Williams,
worked together to create the Rana Williams
Team for Keller Williams Real Estate. In
2013, Keller Williams awarded Haley the
Rising Star of the Year award, and in 2015,
she was named top ten in the company
overall. This winter, Haley was interviewed
by Top Agent magazine, and was featured as
the cover girl of the periodical.
Jackie Ryan Rudolph ’04
married Peter Rudolph (whom
she met at Drew University)
on April 22, 2017 at The Union
League Club in New York City.
Elisabeth Rennell Hosmer
’04 was one of her bridesmaids,
and Stacey Lewis ’04 was also
in attendance. Jackie and Peter
recently moved from Boston to
Los Angeles, where they work in
the entertainment industry.
Amy Markel Scotto ’05 married
Jared Scotto on
‘05
October 1, 2016.
Alexis Markel
Eisenberg ’02
was the Maid
of Honor. Amy and Jared are both
prosecutors in the Queens County
District Attorney’s Office. Amy
earned her M.Sc. from the London
School of Economics and Political Science in 2010 and her J.D.
from Fordham University School of Law in 2014.
Melissa Coan ’05 had her first art show at
the Con Artist Collective, where several of
her painted works were displayed, including
this piece named “Roxanne”. The showcase
portrayed works from ten other women in
addition to Melissa’s work, and all proceeds
went to Planned Parenthood. Several
Marymount alumnae were present to support
Melissa.

‘05
Diana RuaVera
’05 and her husband
welcomed baby
Nova Mila RuaVera (a month early!) on
February 12, 2017.
‘09
Laura Marie Mariel ’09 graduated from
Miami Ad School in March of 2017 and
was hired as an Art Director at Grey, one of
the world’s top advertising and marketing
organizations that serves one-fifth of the
FORTUNE 500 in 96 countries.
‘06
Rachel Goddard ’06 has
been thriving in a variety of
fields for the past few years.
True to her theater roots,
she works part time in the
production office of the New Victory Theater.
Rachel is also passionate about advocacy and
service; she is the recording secretary of her
local Community Emergency Response Team
and a proud five-year veteran of the Planned Parenthood of NYC
Action Fund Activist Council.
Caitlin O’Connell ’06 married
Robert Fitchette at Houston Hall in
Manhattan on May 6, 2017. Several of her
Marymount sisters were in attendance,
including bridesmaid Bernadette
Blanchfield ’06, Marie Leila Douaihi
’06, and Jackie Bessey ’06.
Casey Anne O’Connor ’06 and her husband, Alex Reeder,
welcomed baby boy Eamon Alexander Reeder on March 30, 2017.
Courtney Holton ’07 moved to Boulder in
‘07
2016 after four years in Denver and started
working at Avery Brewing in the accounting
department. She has been at Avery for six
months and absolutely loves it! She will be
getting married in Crested Butte during summer 2018.
Sarah Molinari ’07, a doctoral student in Anthropology at the
CUNY Graduate Center, received an NSF Doctoral Dissertation
Research Improvement Grant and will begin one year of
ethnographic fieldwork in Puerto Rico in the fall of 2017. She is
also working on a book chapter publication that will appear in the
Rutgers University Press Critical Caribbean Studies Series.
‘11
Yuka Doyama ’11
works as a graphic
designer for L’Oréal
and recently designed
the promotion for the
Hydrate Haircare line. Yuka also maintains
a healthy freelance business, Yuka Doyama
Design.
Caitlin McGoldrick ’09,
daughter of Marymount teacher
Fran McGoldrick, married
William Storey on May 28, 2017.
Hannah Harney ’13 is participating in a
‘13
ten-day, 160-mile walk across Kenya to raise
funds for the Lalmba Association. The Lalmba
Association runs a medical clinic which works
to empower communities and at-risk children
in Africa.
‘16
Carleigh Chiaviello ’16 just finished a gap
year. She traveled to Fiji, New Zealand, and
Australia during her first semester and went to
Banff, Canada, during her second semester. She
will begin college at USC in August.
In Memoriam
Marymount School of New York has lost the
following members of our community:
Madeleine Taylor ’07 received her M.Ed. in Rehabilitation
Counseling from Springfield College (Massachusetts) in 2016. She
is currently living in Springfield while she figures out what lies
ahead.
Linda Yung ’07 recently moved from New Orleans to Los
Angeles where she is a dietitian at UCLA’s Center for Obesity and
Metabolic Health.
After four years of living and working in
‘08
New York at several education nonprofits
(including Prep for Prep, which is the very
reason she went to Marymount!), Natasha
Rivera ’08 will be moving to Cambridge
in the fall to attend Harvard University’s Graduate School of
Education for Education Policy and Management.
Frances Lonergan Andrews ’45 passed away peacefully on
December 12, 2016 in Center Moriches, New York.
Monica Shaughnessy Hayden ’58 passed away on November
20, 2016. She is survived by her loving children and her grandson.
Lynn Gallagher ’62 passed away on February 10, 2016 in
Virginia.
Olivia Gray ’06 lost her father, Christopher Gray, on March 10,
2017. Mr. Gray wrote several books on architecture, founded the
Office for Metropolitan History, and had a column in The New
York Times real estate section.
Lauren Cooley ’08 lost her mother, Iris Berman, in May.
Summer 2017 15

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Marymount School of New York