Duke School Under the Oak Magazine, Fall 2020

Under the Oak 

FALL 2020 

A Tribute to the Oak Tree 

The story of Duke School’s 

“under the oak” tradition 

Head of School 

Transition 

Duke School says farewell to 

Dave Michelman and welcomes 

Lisa Nagel as Head of School 

2019-20 Dragon 

Fund Report 

Celebration and recognition 

of the Honor Roll of Donors

Our Mission & Core Values 

WHAT WE DO 

Inspire learners to boldly and creatively shape 

their future. 

IDEAS WE LIVE BY 

Learner-Centered 

Learners are the center of a dynamic and 

collaborative learning, inquiry and discovery 

process. 

Active Inquiry 

Intellectual curiosity through project-based 

learning propels learners to explore multiple 

paths to creative solutions. 

Inside this Issue 

Bold Thinkers 

A deep love of learning and respect for our 

community forms bold, critical thinkers for life. 

WHY WE DO IT 

To prepare the next generation of problem 

solvers for our complex world. 

Under the Oak 

EDITORS 

WRITER 

MAGAZINE DIRECTOR 

DESIGNER 

HEAD OF SCHOOL 

Duke School publishes Under the Oak annually for 

its alumni, parents, grandparents and friends. If 

you would like to add someone to our mailing list, 

please email communications@dukeschool.org. 

We also welcome news about alumni for future 

publications; please email alumni@dukeschool.org 

with this information. 

Lucy Bradshaw 

Candy Thompson 

Nancy Joyce 

Laura Thompson 

Irecka Smith 

Sarah Dwyer 

Lisa Nagel 

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DUKE SCHOOL WELCOMES LISA 

NAGEL, HEAD OF SCHOOL 

Meet Duke School’s new Head of 

School, Lisa Nagel. 

A TRIBUTE TO THE OAK TREE 

Jane Ann McCullough, retired teacher, 

shares the story behind UTOT. 

A FAMILIAR MEETING SPOT: UNDER 

THE OAK TREE 

Nicole Thompson reflects on what 

UTOT means to the community. 

STORYTELLING: THE DISCOVERY 

THROUGH PROJECT WORK 

Teachers Maureen Dwyer and Miriam 

Ornstein use a Glowforge to create 

storytelling figures. 

THROUGH THE LENS OF EQUITY AND 

SOCIAL JUSTICE 

Emily Chávez updates the community 

on Duke School’s equity and social 

justice work. 

DRAGON PRIDE 

Duke School GSA students organize 

the school’s participation in the 2019 

Durham Pride Parade.

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A SPECIAL COLLABORATION 

WITH NORTH CAROLINA 

CENTRAL UNIVERSITY 

Duke School hosts a special 

concert in collaboration with North 

Carolina Central University’s Vocal 

Jazz Ensemble. 

HONORING A DRAGON: 

DAVE MICHELMAN 

Dave Michelman retires after 14 

years as Duke School’s head of school. 

EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW 

I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN: A 

TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE 

Debbie Marshall, retired teacher, 

reflects on her career in education 

and 29 years at Duke School. 

EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW 

I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN: A 

FORMER STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE 

Rebecca Feinglos Planchard ’03 

answers questions about her Duke 

School experience and her 

professional career. 

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VIRTUAL PERFORMANCES TO 

CONNECT, SHOWCASE AND LEARN 

Matthew Etherington presents a virtual 

“Coffee House” series for the Duke 

School community. 

PROBLEM SOLVING BEYOND 

DUKE SCHOOL 

Brian Horton creates mask ear savers for 

health professionals. 

FINDING PURPOSE IN A PANDEMIC 

Alumni Ava Claar and Rachel Pellom ’20 

turn baking into a fundraising enterprise 

benefiting Durham’s Interfaith Food 

Shuttle. 

STAYING CONNECTED: 

DRAGONLINGS ON THE RISE 

Duke School alumni—now parents of 

Duke Schoolers, share why they are a 

family of Dragons. 

A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO DUKE 

SCHOOL GRADS 

Isaiah Bryant ’10, addresses Duke 

School’s Class of 2020. 

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TRANSITIONING IN LIGHT 

OF COVID-19 

Duke School innovates and 

accommodates for increased health 

and safety. 

WHO WE ARE: FROM THE DESK 

OF DUKE SCHOOL TEACHERS 

Teachers share why they believe 

in Duke School. 

PROJECT WORK IN A PANDEMIC 

Jenny Murray shares how Duke School 

project work persists during 

a pandemic. 

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ALUMNI CONNECTIONS: ALWAYS A 

DRAGON 

Celebrating the destinations of 2016 

and 2020 grads. 

DUKE SCHOOL’S 2019-20 DRAGON 

FUND REPORT 

Celebration and recognition of the 

Honor Roll of Donors. 

SPECIAL THANKS TO DUKE SCHOOL’S 

2019-20 FIRE & WIND DRAGON 

SPONSORS! 

Celebration and recognition of Duke 

School sponsors. 

ON THE COVER: The former oak tree on Duke School’s campus—affectionately called UTOT (under the oak tree). The tree became a regular 

gathering place for students and faculty as well as the magazine’s namesake. Photo Credit: Molly Cronenwett, Duke School Parent

Duke School Welcomes 

Lisa Nagel, Head of School 

Duke School welcomes Lisa 

Nagel as our new Head of 

School, succeeding Dave 

Michelman, who held that 

post for 14 years. 

Lisa spent the last 22 

years at St. Anne’s School 

in Annapolis, Maryland— 

eight years as head and 

14 years as associate 

head. Her experience, values and initiatives at 

St. Anne’s aligned closely with those of Duke 

School—fostering a progressive and projectbased 

curriculum, cultivating a community of 

equity and inclusion, and maintaining fiscal 

responsibility while building for the future. 

During the spring, not only was Lisa was trying 

to complete her work at St. Anne’s, she was 

also involved in crafting the COVID-19 coping 

strategies at both schools. 

“It was very energizing, and it was comforting 

too. I felt very fortunate, when the entire world 

was struck by this pandemic, to be able to have 

the perspective of two places to help position 

me,” Lisa said. 

Relocating from Annapolis to Durham added 

yet another complication. “I could not believe 

that I purchased a house from a virtual tour,” 

she said. “But I wanted to get in and get settled 

and wanted Lucy [one of her daughters] to be 

settled.” 

After accepting the position in October 2019, 

Lisa wrote, “I am honored and thrilled to join 

this nationally renowned, vibrant teaching 

and learning community. I was struck by the 

shared, focused commitment to Duke School’s 

bold mission and the caring, happy tenor 

throughout the school. In dialogues with faculty, 

administration, students, trustees, and parents, 

the descriptors I gathered about Duke School 

came to life everywhere I turned: connected, 

dynamic, powerful, smart, and full of heart.” 

Assuming this new role in the midst of a 

pandemic has been especially challenging. 

Lisa sees developing resilience as a critical skill, 

particularly in these uncertain times. “But we 

can't develop that skill unless we first feel safe, 

cared for, and a sense of belonging,” Lisa said. 

“What Duke School and its faculty, staff and 

families has done so well is provided a sense 

of welcome … shown itself as the authentic, 

caring community that I first met and became 

acquainted with last fall,” Lisa said. “And so, it 

provided an opportunity not only to face the 

challenges that were coming at us all day by 

day, but also to feel secure enough and have 

a sense of ‘settledness’ so that we could really 

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face challenges, but also look for opportunities 

in this time.” 

Originally from Ohio, Lisa graduated from 

Oberlin College and received her master’s 

degree in education from John Carroll University. 

She is joined in Durham by her wife, Emily, and 

their two children—Lucy, now a ninth grader 

at Cary Academy, and Valerie, a freshman at 

American University. 

“I am honored and thrilled to join this nationally renowned, vibrant 

teaching and learning community. I was struck by the shared, focused 

commitment to Duke School’s bold mission and the caring, happy tenor 

throughout the school.” ~Lisa Nagel 

UNDER THE OAK 5

A Tribute to 

the Oak Tree 

When Jane Ann McCullough taught European 

history to her sixth-grade classes, she started 

with the dawn of human civilization. So perhaps 

it’s fitting that the story of Under the Oak Tree— 

Duke School’s outdoor learning and gathering 

space whose namesake tree was taken down 

earlier this year—begins long before the school 

was founded. 

Once upon a time, the land at the corner of 

what is now N.C. Highway 751 and Old Erwin 

Road was wooded. European settlers in the 

area cleared large sections of woodland for 

farms. They built houses, barns, and other 

structures from the felled trees and grew crops 

in the fields. Occasionally, a mature hardwood 

tree was spared to shade a farmhouse during 

the hot summer months. 

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the 

farm field on which Duke School now sits fell into 

disuse. Over the next 60 years the woodland 

returned, obscuring the area’s agricultural past. 

For Jane Ann, this past was a learning 

opportunity. After a brief stint at Duke School 

in the late 1980s, she returned in 1992 to help 

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lead the inaugural sixth grade at the newly 

opened middle school on Old Erwin Road. 

“One of the suggestions made to me was that 

we had an opportunity to track succession 

forest,” she said. 

With the help of graduate students from Duke 

University’s forestry department, coordinated 

by a Duke School parent, Jane Ann gathered 

information and insight—including decadesold 

aerial photographs of the area—to help her 

students learn how to read the history in the 

land just outside their classroom. 

“What they told me to look for is, when a field 

first starts to go back to forest, there’s certain 

plants that begin to take hold,” she said. 

“There’s a succession of plants, and among 

those, yellow pine will start to grow in the field.” 

Fast-growing pines are the first trees to emerge 

in formerly open fields. Once the pines start to 

die off after about 65 years and enrich the soil 

below, hardwood trees growing in the pines’ 

shadows begin to take over. “From farm fields 

back to mature hardwood forest is about 150 

years,” Jane Ann said. 

Based on this natural timeline, the woods 

around Duke School appeared in the 1990s 

to be about halfway through the 150-year 

succession forest cycle. 

So what was a massive, mature red oak tree 

doing amid all of the much younger growth? 

“We talked about it, and we said there was good 

evidence to show that tree might have been a 

young tree left by the house,” Jane Ann said. 

“It definitely at some point early on was left, 

because by the time we arrived it was already 

an old tree.” 

Jane Ann and her students were able to confirm 

this theory as they explored the area around 

the tree, which was estimated to be about 100 

years old. They located the remains of the old 

farmhouse and the dump site where items from 

the house were discarded. 

UNDER THE OAK 7

The woods held other lessons, too. Jane Ann 

taught her students to recognize patterns in the 

forms and life cycles of the plants in the forest. 

They built primitive shelters with fallen sticks 

and leaves. They scouted wood to make arrows 

and knives with stone heads shaped by a local 

expert. They also traced the mathematical 

Fibonacci sequence in the spiraling scales 

of pinecones. 

“This was the heart of Duke School,” Jane 

Ann said. “You explored an idea by getting as 

close to the real thing as you could and being 

immersed in it, and then making things.” 

and think about what it must have been like to 

have lived there, both as an Indian and then as 

an early settler,” Jane Ann said. “It got us out 

of the classroom. I think that was the biggest 

attraction about it—it was a classroom out 

in nature.” 

UTOT became a place of shared teaching and 

learning. Jane Ann’s sixth graders investigated 

the woods around the oak tree and brought 

their discoveries back to UTOT to present to 

their peers. “One of the things that I’ve always 

been grateful for is I learned as much as they 

did,” Jane Ann said. 

After a few years, Jane Ann arranged for a raised 

wooden platform to be built under the large 

red oak. The platform served the dual purpose 

of guarding against ticks and poison ivy as well 

as defining the borders of a classroom without 

walls or desks. It became known as Under the 

Oak Tree, or UTOT. 

“UTOT made it possible to be outside and have 

the trees around you, the wind in your face, 

Over time, UTOT “became sort of an outside 

gathering spot for other classes to use for other 

purposes,” Jane Ann said. What started as a 

convenient location for observing a succession 

forest came in many ways to embody Duke 

School’s mission of hands-on learning. 

“We were so strongly involved with the 

integrated program,” Jane Ann said. “So when 

I taught science, I was also exploring history 

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with [the students] in every way that I could. All 

of that became integrated.” 

UTOT evolved to include a stage and an 

assortment of benches for classes and 

extracurricular meetings. Alumni often 

gravitated to UTOT when they revisited the 

school. After Duke School moved its Lower 

School to the Old Erwin Road campus and 

constructed a new Middle School in 2009, 

UTOT hosted assemblies and events for the 

entire preschool to eighth grade community. 

Eventually, school officials realized that the red 

oak tree was approaching the end of its life. 

Crews removed the tree in December 2019. 

But parts of the tree still remain. Lower school 

students can climb, balance, and play on the 

large sections of limbs recently added to their 

playgrounds. Cross sections of the trunk also 

were saved. Once they dry, students will be able 

to count the tree’s rings and create timelines 

marking important years in state and national 

history. Visitors to UTOT can sit amid smaller 

red oak trees—possibly offspring of the original 

tree—on a new bench honoring retired Head of 

School Dave Michelman. 

Even without its namesake oak, UTOT will 

continue to represent Duke School’s philosophy 

of shared learning and community. The spot 

will still host weekly middle school meetings, 

whole school gatherings, project culminations, 

graduations, and other special events. 

For Jane Ann, who left Duke School in 2003, 

and is now a volunteer elementary school 

teacher in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., exploration is 

UTOT’s greatest legacy. 

“You become what you do,” she said. “If you go 

out and you’re outside in nature, you’re going 

to train a part of your brain that you could not 

have achieved the same results with inside a 

classroom.” 

“That beautiful tree—that was just magical,” 

she said. 

Under the Oak, June 2019 

UNDER THE OAK 9

A Familiar Meeting Place: Under the Oak 

By Nicole Thompson, Lower School Director 

My favorite Duke School memory is one that 

I get to recreate each year. On the morning 

of the Eighth Grade Graduation, we have a 

whole school gathering Under the Oak Tree 

(UTOT). The highlight for me is when the eighth 

graders walk their kindergarten buddies to the 

assembly. The visual is fantastic—middle school 

giants holding hands with some of our smallest 

Dragons, guiding them one last time. 

UTOT is a treasured, honored spot on campus. 

Since middle schoolers started visiting the spot 

more than 20 years ago, Duke Schoolers have 

enjoyed classes, conversations and assemblies 

under the arms of the great oak. Because of this 

relationship, we were all sad when we realized 

that the red oak was coming to the end of its 

natural life cycle and for safety reasons needed 

to be taken down. 

North Carolina, one for Durham, and one for 

Duke School. Once the timelines are complete, 

we hope to install them at UTOT. 

The crew did additional work to the site for the 

next iteration of life at UTOT. The team was 

able to cut back brush and some small pines 

to open up space for three red oaks that were 

fighting for light beside the stage. It is possible 

that those three oaks are the offspring of the 

old oak. At least I know that’s what I want 

to believe! 

As we discussed the old red oak, we learned 

a lot about its history. Tree experts shared that 

the tree was likely about 100 years old. Jane 

Ann, a former teacher, let us know that it had 

once shaded a farmhouse and that alums would 

often gather at the tree when they returned 

to campus. 

When crews came in over the winter break in 

2019 to remove the noble—yet tired—tree, 

they were able to preserve three large slices 

of the trunk. While it may take a few years, 

the plan is to let the pieces dry and then have 

students create timelines on the discs—one for 

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Under the Oak, June 2019

Storytelling: The Discovery Through Project Work 

By Maureen Dwyer & Miriam Ornstein, Preschool Teachers 

Young children are naturally inquisitive about the 

world around them—what they can see, touch, 

smell, taste, and hear. Fostering that innate 

curiosity through project work, we provide 

children a variety of tools to develop and 

represent their growing knowledge. Recently, 

we were able to utilize some new technology to 

augment these tools and project work. 

At a tech-focused professional development 

session at the beginning of the 2019-20 school 

year, we learned about Duke School's newly 

acquired Glowforge 3D laser printer, along with 

some ways it might support student learning. 

That session sparked an idea for us and led to 

some brainstorming and design-thinking with 

Innovation Director, Katie Ree, and Technology 

and Innovation Specialist, Dan Divis— centered 

on designing and creating a sturdy laser-cut doll 

of each child in our class. After a few iterations, 

we came up with these awesome storytelling 

figures! 

The children used the figures, along with small 

loose parts and dollhouse miniatures, to create 

stories about our project topics. The storytelling 

materials were quite popular throughout our 

projects, with children choosing to work with 

them daily, both individually and in small groups. 

The storytelling work supported children's oral 

language and literacy development, inspired 

creativity, and enabled them to create meaning 

and effectively communicate their learning. 

“One day me and my mom finished dinner and 

then we were still hungry. And then we decided to 

make pies. We made a chocolate pie with whipped 

cream on top. The crust was made out of graham 

crackers. We put it in the pie safe so it could cool off 

safely. And then we made another pie...And then we 

put it in the pie safe. And then we closed it, and after 

a few whiles it was cool. And then we ate the pies all 

up. They tasted very good.” 

~Lia ‘29, Pie Project Expert 

UNDER THE OAK 11

Through the Lens of 

Equity and Social Justice 

By Emily Chávez, Director of Equity and Justice 

Three years ago a team of Duke School parents, 

faculty, staff, and board members created 

FIRE, Duke School’s Strategic Plan, focused 

on Future orientation, Innovative approaches 

and students, Results that are impactful, and 

Equity and justice. Within the equity and justice 

focus, three strategies were outlined (see the 

box below). In August of 2019, Duke School's 

leadership announced my appointment as 

the new director of equity and justice, whose 

responsibility is to guide the implementation of 

these strategies and to embed an equity and 

social justice lens into all the work we do. 

Strategy 1: Duke School recognizes that some barriers to becoming more 

diverse, equitable and just may be systemic, unconscious, or cultural and thus 

difficult for members of the Duke School community to recognize and change. 

Duke School will work to identify and change those systemic barriers. 

Strategy 2: For Duke School to create an equitable and just culture, employees, 

board members and parents should have a deep understanding of systemic 

racism. Hence, Duke School will require that all members of the board and all 

employees attend racial and equity training and will offer training to all parents 

who wish to participate. 

Strategy 3: For Duke School to be truly just and equitable, it must meet the 

needs of a wider socioeconomic spectrum. Hence, Duke School will commit to 

extending its socioeconomic reach through expanded summer programming 

and working with teachers who teach a wide socioeconomic range of students. 

The school will determine how or if it can meet the needs of a wide range of 

socioeconomically diverse students in its core academic year program. 

Recently, we have found ourselves in a global 

pandemic that has amplified social, political, 

and economic disparities around us. About six 

months ago, the murder of 46-year-old George 

Floyd by a white police officer in the middle of a 

Minneapolis street sparked outrage across the 

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country and the world. Daily protests emerged, 

first in Minneapolis and then quickly in all fifty 

states and in over fifty countries around the 

world. There are estimates that upwards of 

15 million people took part in protests in the 

U.S. during the month of June alone. Summer 

2020 saw calls to break the cycles of white 

supremacy in all forms and areas of society, 

calls for institutions and individuals to look 

at themselves deeply and 

honestly, and calls to change 

many of our laws, policies, and 

practices that reinforce the 

conditions of injustice. 

We find ourselves in a time of 

transformation. 

While Duke School educators 

have been in the process of 

reimagining school for this 

fall, we also find ourselves in 

a moment of opportunity that 

calls us to reimagine how we 

talk, teach, and learn about 

race and racism as well. In 

July, I led an optional fourweek 

class called the Race and 

Racism Study and Reflection 

Program for faculty and staff. 

This allowed us to dive deeper 

into the work outlined in 

FIRE’s equity and justice Strategy 2. Ten faculty 

and staff participated (on top of engaging in 

distance learning professional development 

that all faculty completed!). We looked at the 

labor exploitation and cultivation of wealth that 

is at the foundation of this nation, racism as a 

visceral experience, racism across borders, and 

“I am proud to 

say that at Duke 

School we have 

a faculty which 

is committed 

to bringing 

our values of 

diversity, equity, 

and social 

justice into the 

classroom. Our 

educators do this 

in big and small 

ways.” 

race in the context of education. Participants 

examined their own experiences of race, 

privilege, and marginalization, and considered 

how they would bring their reflections into their 

curriculum and pedagogy this fall. 

My work draws on years of work of those before 

me—faculty, staff, parents, and students—who 

implemented initial reform measures through 

changes in the things we do, 

think, and say. I am proud to say 

that at Duke School we have a 

faculty which is committed to 

bringing our values of diversity, 

equity, and social justice into 

the classroom. Our educators 

do this in big and small ways. 

Over the course of the current 

school year, I will have an 

opportunity to share some of 

the ways we are thinking about 

our equity and justice values, 

practices, and initiatives, and to 

highlight some of the excellent 

work of our faculty, staff, and 

students in this regard. 

These efforts have gained new 

urgency and relevance. Living 

social justice is a daily practice, 

one that calls us to listen both 

to others and to ourselves. 

I invite every one of us to do this with one 

another in community this year—even through 

distance—and as we do so, to center the needs 

of our children—young people who will one 

day lead us and our world. 

UNDER THE OAK 13

Dragon Pride 

A Look Back to Duke School’s Participation 

in the 2019 Durham Pride Parade 

On September 28, 2019, almost 200 Duke 

School students, alumni, family members, staff 

members and friends joined the Durham Pride 

parade at Duke University’s East Campus. This 

was Duke School’s second year taking part in 

the annual parade, and 

the first year that students 

from the school’s Gender- 

Sexuality Alliance (GSA) 

helped coordinate the 

school’s participation. 

“It seemed like a really 

nice opportunity to have 

the students take on a 

leadership role,” said 

Middle School Counselor 

Rachel Wertheimer. 

GSA members—guided by 

Rachel, Ben Felton, Middle 

School language arts and project teacher, and T 

Land, Duke School parent—began planning in 

spring 2019 how the school would participate 

in Pride. 

On the day, Duke School’s group marched 

alongside Equality NC thanks to T’s connections 

with the organization. To make the event even 


more exciting for Duke School marchers, the 

GSA prepared sign-making materials and 

packed goodie bags with rainbow-colored 

dragon stickers, temporary tattoos, crayons and 

candy. 

“Part of doing 

this work is 

teaching students 

that they have 

voices, that they 

can be activists, 

that they can 

make change 

happen...” 

The GSA includes students who 

are committed to helping make 

Duke School a more inclusive and 

welcoming place for LGBTQIA+ 

individuals, regardless of their 

own identities. To see those 

values celebrated on a large scale 

at Pride can be very exciting, 

Rachel said. 

“I think for students—particularly 

students who are in GSA and 

for whom those values are really 

central and something they’ve 

prioritized in their life—seeing 

that all around them … is very affirming,” 

she said. 

By marching with Duke School’s group, students, 

staff, and families also are “choosing to be part 

of the position that Duke School has, that we 

are an inclusive school and we want to show 

those values,” said Ben.

Although the COVID-19 

pandemic canceled the 

parade in 2020, the 

GSA advisors say the 

group is excited about 

participating in Pride in 

the future. 

“Part of doing this work 

is teaching students that 

they have voices, that 

they can be activists, that 

they can make change 

happen,” said Ben. “I 

think to have something 

like the Pride parade to 

anchor them to it is very 

inspiring and proof that 

the work that they’re 

doing here in school 

really does have impacts 

and matters.”

A Special Collaboration with NCCU 

By Megan Whitted, Music Teacher 

“At last…” 

Hearing these words sung by Duke School 

students Lillian Bamberger and Caroline Welty, 

accompanied by the North Carolina Central 

University (NCCU) Vocal Jazz Ensemble, filled 

me with joy! It was the culmination of a year’s 

worth of vibrant musical collaboration. 

In February of 2019, the NCCU Vocal Jazz 

Ensemble performed at a Duke School Whole 

School Gathering, and afterward, vocal 

jazz students met with Duke School chorus 

students to share what they loved about jazz. 

I recall alumnus Andrew Murgitroyd ’19 being 

especially excited as he was in the process of 

making his own recording of jazz standards. 

Shortly after the concert, Duke School Assistant 

Development Director Corey Savage had the 

idea for a Black History celebration concert 

featuring the NCCU ensemble and our own 

Lower and Middle School choruses. After 

a number of conversations with ensemble 

director Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds, we made 

plans for a February 2020 concert. 

“People get ready…” 

I attended a lecture by Dr. Hammonds at the 

North Carolina Museum of Art on the life and 

music of Nina Simone which inspired some of 

our song choices for the concert. Our soloists 

began rehearsals in September and our fifth 

and sixth grade chorus worked on jazz vocal 

technique with ensemble alumna, Tyra Scott, 

for two weeks in October. 

By January 2020, more than forty Duke School 

chorus members had learned two songs to sing 

along with the NCCU Vocal Jazz ensemble—“I 

Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)” 

and “People Get Ready,” featuring our own 

steel pan percussionists. Duke School soloists 

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“I really enjoyed working with 

the musicians at NCCU because I 

learned more about Black music 

history, and I learned jazz singing 

techniques. I loved getting a 

chance to sing with and learn 

from that talented and supportive 

group!” 

~Brooke Murgitroyd ‘21 

Lillian Bamberger, Hazel Bouille, Genevieve 

Harris, Mahaugony Howard, Brooke Murgitroyd, 

Shariah Warren, and Caroline Welty rehearsed 

with the Vocal Jazz Ensemble in February. Shariah 

recalled a bit of advice that Dr. Hammonds gave 

to her during the rehearsal, “To sound better you 

have to open your mouth!” 

After one of the rehearsals, NCCU students 

invited us to sit in on a rehearsal with Dr. Ira 

Wiggins, the head of the Jazz Studies program at 

NCCU. We danced and sang along as the group 

performed Motown hits! 

“Signed, Sealed, Delivered…” 

On February 27, 2020, singers from NCCU and 

Duke School arrived in our Middle School Gym 

dressed in concert black and Duke School/ 

NCCU maroon to sing and play music together. 

It truly was a joyous celebration for everyone in 

attendance and a gratifying culmination for us all! 

“The opportunity that we had 

with NCCU to perform in a 

concert was incredible. Between 

our practices, our performances, 

and just simply warming up or 

talking, we all learned so much 

and really progressed as singers 

and performers. I feel so lucky and 

am so grateful to have had this 

opportunity. Thanks to everyone 

involved!” 

~Caroline Welty ‘21 

“I think my favorite part about 

singing with NCCU was the 

experience of being able to sing 

with professionals and listen to 

the differences of their voices and 

what I could do to improve mine. I 

also loved learning about different 

music from different cultures, and 

how singing becomes a career. 

It gave me a chance to envision 

what my life could be.” 

~Genevieve Harris ‘22 

UNDER THE OAK 17

Honoring A Dragon: Dave 

In 14 years, the planet Venus travels around 

the sun almost 23 times, and Jupiter a little 

more than once. Four cohorts of Duke School 

students can start preschool as 3-year-olds and 

graduate from eighth grade. 

below capacity. Attrition, student and staff 

diversity, and academic and extracurricular 

offerings all had room to improve. There were 

also financial challenges compounded by the 

Great Recession. 

For Dave Michelman, who retired as head of 

school in June, 14 years was also enough time 

to help Duke School transform 

physically, demographically, and 

culturally. 

Dave joined Duke School during 

the 2006–07 academic year, after 

serving as head of Chesapeake 

Academy in Arnold, Maryland. 

He said the school’s reputation 

for progressive, project-based 

education “seemed like a great 

fit,” as did its location in Durham. 

“It was the fact that it was studentcentered, 

that teachers saw 

students as learning partners, that the projects 

were engaging and not predetermined, and 

it was a place that really respected children,” 

Dave said of what attracted him to Duke School. 

“I loved the culture and the feel of the school, 

the fact that students were really excited about 

the work they were doing.” 

Duke School faced several challenges early in 

Dave’s tenure. Student enrollment often was 

Additionally, Dave noticed a lack of school 

culture, due in large part to the lower and 

middle schools being housed 

on separate campuses. “To me, 

there didn’t seem to be a very 

deep sense of school spirit and 

identity among the students,” he 

said. 

Over the next 14 years, Dave led 

Duke School’s growth in all of 

these areas. 

With support from the 

school’s Board of Trustees 

and Development Office, the 

endowment increased fivefold 

and philanthropic investments in the school 

grew. Applications for Admissions now far 

exceed the school’s enrollment. The Educators 

Institutes promote Duke School’s project-based 

learning approach and expertise to teachers 

worldwide. 

Dave attributes some of this growth to shifting 

how the school presents itself to potential 

students and families. 

18 UNDER THE OAK

Michelman Retires from Duke School 

“The school learned to speak about itself 

and its program more confidently, rather than 

apologetically,” he said. Unique features of the 

school, such as calling teachers by their first 

names and not giving grades, were framed 

in terms of promoting partnerships among 

students and teachers and assessing student 

performance with best practices. 

multiple student bands, Lower and Middle 

School choruses, and a drama program with 

two plays a year. 

“I believe that, when we talk about creative and 

critical thinkers, one way to allow that to happen 

is through a robust arts program,” Dave said. “It 

just lends itself to creative and critical thinking.” 

“I think we became really 

clear that this is who we are. 

We’re proud of who we are, 

and if it meets the needs of 

your family, great! And if it 

doesn’t, that’s also great,” 

Dave said. 

Dave oversaw the capital 

campaign to consolidate 

the Lower and Middle 

Schools on the Old Erwin 

Road campus in 2009. He 

further encouraged the 

development of the Duke School identity with 

a rebranding campaign, a new school song, 

and the adoption of the school poem, Jack 

Prelutsky’s Once They All Believed in Dragons. 

The school’s programmatic offerings 

transformed as well. During Dave’s tenure, 

Duke School expanded its extracurricular 

opportunities and arts instruction significantly. 

The performing arts program now includes 

“The school is 

still challenging 

students in 

engaging 

ways—and 

hopefully better 

than it did when I 

arrived—that’s my 

point of pride.” 

Among the many changes, Dave 

said, “the fact that the school 

now thinks about diversity and 

equity and justice near the top of 

the metrics it uses when making 

a decision is something that I’m 

very excited about.” 

In addition to attracting and 

retaining more diverse families 

and faculty, the school’s 

diversity and inclusion initiative 

encourages discussions about 

bias and equity in all areas of 

school life. “Teachers have been very thoughtful 

about how to have a curriculum that really 

reflects the world we live in and opening up a 

world so students can see it in its reality,” Dave 

said. 

The school also expanded its focus on service 

and advocacy, largely inspired by the ideas 

in Sara Ahmed and Smokey Daniels’s book 

Upstanders. “If students aren’t having the 

UNDER THE OAK 19

opportunity to actually make a difference, it 

disempowers them, and they’re not seeing the 

complex world,” Dave said. 

Dave’s time at Duke School wasn’t without a final 

challenge. In March, the COVID-19 pandemic 

forced the school to shift to distance learning 

with just a few days’ notice. 

“There were many other decisions that needed 

to be made quickly, some of which had a large 

scope,” Dave said. “Having a strong board and 

Leadership Team, we were able to make these 

decisions using the same approach we have 

used for years.” 

That way involves evaluating how best to 

support the school’s mission; help the social 

climate among faculty, staff, students, and 

parents; and allow the school to be financially 

sustainable, Dave said. “As long as those 

three filters are met, then you know it’s a good 

decision.” 

As teachers shifted to online instruction, Dave 

recorded video messages and organized virtual 

assemblies to “continue to create the sense 

of community.” 

Dave is exploring several options for the next 

chapter of his life after Duke School, including 

consulting and leadership coaching in the 

education and nonprofit sectors, as well as 

working with a company promoting cultural 

understanding among American and Chinese 

students. He and his wife, Claudia, plan to 

remain in Durham to be close to family, including 

their three grandchildren. 

Through his time at Duke School, Dave said 

he is most proud that the school remains a 

place that challenges students, gives them 

agency, encourages persistence and empathy, 

and helps them understand the importance of 

equity and justice. 

“I think Duke School does that as well as any 

school,” he said. “That’s what it’s about. It’s not 

about number of students. It’s somewhat about 

diversity, because I don’t think you can do all that 

without diversity. It’s not about the endowment. 

Those are important for a school, but to me, 

the fact the school is still challenging students 

in engaging ways—and hopefully better than it 

did when I arrived—that’s my point of pride.” 

20 UNDER THE OAK

Everything I Needed to Know 

I Learned in Kindergarten 

Beloved kindergarten teacher Debbie Marshall retired last June after 29 years at Duke 

School. Who better to reflect and share experiences with her than a former student and 

rising star in the world of early childhood education, Rebecca Feinglos Planchard ’03? 

A Teacher’s Perspective: 

Rebecca: What first drew you to becoming 

a teacher? 

would I have done if I had felt like I had lots 

of choices?” 

Debbie: I was a child of the ’50s and ’60s. 

Basically, we had two or three options as girls: 

teacher, nurse, secretary, or some variation. I 

guess that was sort of always in my head. But I 

loved kids. I babysat all the time as a teenager. 

In the summers, the folks at my church would 

ask me to do the 3- and 4-year-olds class in 

Bible School. I remember being very relaxed 

doing that. One of the summers we visited 

friends, and the dad came over to me and said, 

“You are really good with kids.” That stuck with 

me. Now, I kind of wish that I could have grown 

up in an era like this because I wonder, “what 

Rebecca: But I think it seemed to work out 

pretty well for you. 

Debbie: I can truthfully say that this was never 

just my job. It was my passion. 

Rebecca: I know I felt that as a kid in your 

class. There’s no doubt about that. How have 

you seen kindergarten change over your 29 

years? 

Debbie: The first thing that changed 

curriculum-wise was the introduction of reading 

UNDER THE OAK 21

writing workshop and math workshop—going 

from being play-based and centers. We 

grappled with that a lot. I felt good about what 

we did academically; but being able to have 

another lengthy period of time in those centers 

is where you’re doing all that social-emotional 

work, sharing the blocks or sand or whatever. 

So that was tricky—always trying to find enough 

time in the day. 

The thing that I’m most concerned about, in 

terms of what has changed, is children come to 

you for direction on 

what to do all the 

time. They finish 

this and say, “what 

do I do now?”— 

always needing 

someone else to 

help them out with 

that. We obviously 

have to have 

things for them 

to do. Have the 

materials around— 

cardboard, tubes, 

paint, markers 

or crayons or 

whatever—and 

just let them 

struggle with it for a little bit. Don’t solve “I’m 

bored.” Let kids figure it out themselves. That’s 

how you get innovators and creative thinking! 

Rebecca: Yes! It seems like my entire 

experience in the classroom my first year was 

that tension of being held accountable through 

testing—paper-based testing the district 

required me to give. As soon as I learned that 

those paper-based tests in kindergarten didn’t 

have a negative repercussion for anyone, I was 

like, “Oh, forget that. Let’s learn for the sake 

of learning.” I changed every piece of our 

curriculum and just thought through “What are 

the values that we want to instill in our kids? 

What’s the culture that we want to cultivate? 

And then how do we want to work together and 

individually to solve problems?” 

Debbie: The things I’ve always felt that need 

to come out of kindergarten are things like 

perseverance, fearlessness, empathy, resilience, 

self-reliance, being 

comfortable taking 

risks—and to be OK 

with failure. I don’t 

use the word failure 

a lot, but I say to 

kids, “Sometimes 

we do things and 

it doesn’t work 

and we get upset. 

But that doesn’t 

mean we didn’t 

learn anything.” My 

job is to create an 

environment where 

they feel safe and 

secure in doing that. 

Rebecca: What kept you at Duke School? 

Debbie: Every year is an adventure. You know, 

you get this different group of kids and they 

have different interests. So, you never know 

exactly what’s going to happen. I trust myself 

more than I did when I was less experienced. 

So being able to take cues from the kids and 

learning alongside them makes it really exciting. 

And then I guess the other thing would be 

22 UNDER THE OAK

Duke School’s commitment to professional 

development. It is remarkable. I feel like Duke 

School does more than any place I can imagine 

in terms of keeping us on the cutting edge of 

what is happening in progressive education. 

It’s phenomenal! Then, there’s the collegiality 

among the staff. Everybody will share 

everything! You have a new idea, you share it 

with your colleagues. I think we have grown to 

feel that by sharing what we are learning, trying 

and finding success with everybody else, makes 

us all better. I think it puts us in a unique place 

in the community. 

Debbie: This is this is what I think I’ve learned: 

There is no end game in teaching. I’ve been 

back to graduate school twice in my career. 

The last time I started graduate school at the 

age of 60, and every time I’ve done a graduate 

program, it has been “I’ve got to find the 

answer. The answer is here.” And it’s not. It is 

not a finite field. There is no end. It is always 

going to be evolving. And you always have to 

just grow and change. This is the place where 

you just keep growing and you get better and 

better each time. But it never stops. So be a 

lifelong educator and a lifelong learner. 

Rebecca: I really want to hear your words of 

wisdom for me. 

Rebecca: Mic drop. That’s great advice, 

Debbie. I’m keeping that in my pocket. 

A Former Student’s Perspective: 

Debbie and Rebecca continue to “talk shop”—sharing memories 

and examining education in today’s world. 

Debbie: What do you remember about 

kindergarten? 

Rebecca: I remember the classroom being 

so big. We came in and walked down these 

little stairs to get to the room. And it was 

huge in my eyes. I remember you being so 

kind. I feel like I remember snuggling in the 

loft with my classmates. But this is where I get 

emotional—I don’t remember a whole lot about 

the kindergarten year in school. This is the sad 

thing. I remember going in for show and tell 

and I decided that my “tell” to the kids in my 

class was that I couldn’t hug my mom because 

she was getting radiation therapy. 

Debbie: That is the thing that defined your 

year in kindergarten for me. I don’t think I’d 

ever taught a child who had to deal with that. 

Rebecca: And we should say out loud… 

My mom was diagnosed with brain cancer in 

December of that year. 

What do you remember about talking to my 

parents? Because I assume that they would 

have wanted to sit down with you, or at least 

had a phone call about it. 

Debbie: I remember your mom talking to me 

at a conference and telling me about how she 

UNDER THE OAK 23

felt and the oncoming of this illness. I think 

mostly it was hoping that I could make her feel 

like you were in a really safe place—that we 

would do everything we could to support you 

whatever came along. We were not making you 

a centerpiece of sympathy, but we were letting 

you be five-year-old Becki. You and your family 

probably helped me grow in some ways that 

became helpful with other kids that require the 

same sort of “let them feel what they feel.” 

Now, I would really like to 

hear about your job right now 

because you have jumped 

several levels from working 

with five-year-olds to being 

the governor’s daily buddy. 

Rebecca: It’s been quite 

the journey! I came home to 

be the senior early childhood 

policy advisor for the North 

Carolina Department of 

Health and Human Services. 

We work very closely with 

the governor’s office, but I 

advise the DHHS secretary, 

Dr. Mandy Cohen. Prior to 

COVID, I was focused on our 

birth-to-age-eight work. The 

governor and I—my work—released an early 

childhood action plan for the state, and we’re 

now going to think about what it means in a 

post-COVID world. 

We are in a place where we have set extensive 

public health guidance for what it means to 

operate a school in person and the safety and 

health requirements. It is the hardest thing I’ve 

ever done. And I would have told you before 

COVID that teaching was the hardest thing I’ve 

ever done. 

“The things I’ve 

always felt that 

need to come out 

of kindergarten 

are things like 

perseverance, 

fearlessness, empathy, 

resilience, selfreliance, 

being 

comfortable taking 

risks—and to be OK 

with failure.” 

Debbie: It seems like you have the most 

overwhelming job ever because it seems like all 

of this is then rooted in equity and justice. And 

without all of that being in place, how is it going 

to change in public schools? 

Rebecca: That is the one 

good thing that has come out 

of COVID—every problem that 

was happening before COVID 

is magnified times a thousand. 

We are staring at inequity by 

race, by ethnicity, in our state 

right now. We’re watching it 

happen and you can’t ignore it 

anymore. What this gives us an 

opportunity to do is reimagine 

education, to reimagine 

early childhood education 

in particular, to reimagine 

healthcare. We got telehealth 

working in a period of weeks. 

Our state has been trying to 

integrate that for years, and just 

when necessitated, we made 

it happen. Same idea for y’all 

as teachers—we’re doing remote instruction? 

Here we go. Let’s do it. Same with our work 

right now—no idea how to get meals delivered 

to kids across our state when all of our schools 

are closed? Let’s use school buses to deliver 

them. If this is fostering such an opportunity to 

break down systems that were destructive, then 

let’s change them. There’s nothing out of play 

right now. We can reinvent whatever we want. 

24 UNDER THE OAK

I wanted to tell you what Duke School meant to 

me and why I love Duke School so much. 

I was so well served by the school. I feel like I 

think the way that I think and that I work with 

people the way that I do because of my time 

at Duke School. I love creative approaches to 

problem solving. I think that is really rooted in 

my preschool through eighth grade education. 

But Duke School taught me how to be a 

thinker, fundamentally. 

School was also a very safe place for me when 

so much of my childhood at home was really 

hard—really, really, hard. And that’s not to say 

that my father didn’t create the most loving 

environment that he could. But having someone 

with brain cancer deteriorating in front of you as 

a child, and that’s all you know, for eight years 

… home was a hard place to be. School was my 

happy place every day, every year. 

I never felt like I couldn’t be myself at Duke 

School. I just felt so embraced by every 

classmate, every teacher. And that approach 

to being able to feel free to be myself, free to 

think and approach problem solving the way 

that I wanted to, the way that made sense 

to me, that there was no wrong way I could 

approach something at Duke School—that’s 

so empowering to kids. That has set me up for 

everything else. And I feel like without Duke 

School—without that education—I don’t know 

that I would have that at all. 

Debbie: That is definitely music to our ears at 

Duke school—even more now that we are in the 

21st century where everybody is talking about 

design-thinking, innovation, and all of those 

things. You go back and I think the basis of it is 

where we were to begin with. 

Rebecca Feinglos Planchard ‘03 

After graduating from Duke School in 2003, Rebecca Feinglos 

Planchard attended Durham Academy and Duke University. 

She taught kindergarten and was an instructional coach 

for Teach for America in Dallas, Texas, for four years. She 

earned a master’s degree in public policy from the University 

of Chicago while also serving as an early childhood policy 

associate and communications consultant in the Chicago 

mayor’s office. She is now a senior early childhood policy 

advisor for the North Carolina Department of Health and 

Human Services. 

UNDER THE OAK 25

Transitioning in 

Light of COVID-19 

As the COVID-19 pandemic evolved swiftly, so did Duke School’s 

transition to distance learning. The school moved all students to 

distance learning from March through June—the remainder of 

the 2019-20 school year. With few days notice, teachers altered 

curriculum plans to ensure that Duke Schoolers would complete 

the school year together—persevering as “the next generation 

of problem solvers for our complex world.” The community 

worked tirelessly to remain flexible, responsive, and innovative. 

In doing so, Duke School’s Leadership Team developed a mission 

and main objectives for distance learning. The team’s first and 

foremost priority was “to have students feel engaged, curious, 

and safe while practicing inquiry and exhibiting agency as they 

used technology and other resources from their environment.” 

In August, the Duke School community officially welcomed Lisa 

Nagel as head of school, who released the school’s Return to 

School Plan—outlining safety precautions and protocols that 

allowed families, faculty and staff to return to campus this fall. 

Dedicated to developing the best curriculum for all students, 

both on-line and on-campus, the school began its 2020-21 

school year with concurrent On-Campus and Bridged Distance 

Learning Models. 

UNDER THE OAK 27

Who We Are: From the Desk 

of Duke School Teachers 

““Duke School is the greatest place for preschoolers to learn and grow through 

enriching experiences. In my 27 years of teaching, I truly believe that projectbased 

learning is the optimal way for young children to absorb knowledge. 

Project based learning affords children the opportunity to learn through 

tangibility, solve real-world problems, ask questions to gain knowledge, and be 

curious about the world around them. Even during these unprecedented times, 

there is no place where I would rather be and teach!” 

~Renee Smith, Preschool Teacher 

28 UNDER THE OAK

““Duke School provides a nurturing and warm 

environment for students to grow and become 

bold, independent thinkers. I deeply value Duke 

School’s commitment to meeting the needs of 

students both academically and emotionally. 

The curriculum is very engaging and addresses 

the needs of different learning styles. The 

project-based learning allows students to 

form questions and explore multiple ways to 

problem solve. The students are the center of 

the learning at Duke School. Each and every 

day the campus is full of active engagement, 

discovery, and collaboration.” 

~Janeia Knox, Lower School Teacher 

““It’s great to teach at a school where teachers are 

entrusted with so much autonomy and creative 

control in the classroom. The freedom to be 

innovative with curricular choices is empowering, 

and it feels in step with the progressive, labschool 

mentality that is at the heart of DS. This 

has always been something I’ve valued about 

working here and especially now, when everything 

is so new and different. The flexibility to try new 

ways of teaching, while being supported by the 

administration to make choices that best meet 

the needs of students and teachers, is one of the 

many unique and meaningful qualities that DS 

possesses.” 

~Ben Felton, Middle School Teacher 

UNDER THE OAK 29

Photo Credit: Dillon Ross, 

Middle School Teacher 

““One of the silver linings of teaching through a 

pandemic has been the awe and gratitude I feel 

each day as I watch every member of the Duke 

School community live out our values. 

After giving up summer vacation time to learn 

more about distance learning, teachers meet 

weekly to plan a dual distance and on-campus 

program with adaptations for social distancing, 

disinfecting materials, and masking. 

Students continue their deep inquiry and 

collaboration as a seventh grader sits at his 

computer in Pod C and gives feedback to a 

friend learning at his kitchen table. And first 

graders continue to ask important questions 

as they chat with a guest scientist over Zoom 

about their Rock Project. 

The results of our equity and justice work fill 

the buildings during the presidential election 

as students learn about voter suppression 

and gerrymandering, and eighth graders work 

alongside Duke University Infectious Disease 

researchers collecting data for a study to find a 

safe and cost-effective way to help schools stay 

open during a pandemic. 

Last of all, each day I observe the agency 

and commitment we hold dear as everyone 

pitches in to do tasks we never imagined. 

The day begins as administrators and specials 

teachers, thermometers in hand, spend an 

hour cheerfully greeting students in carline. As 

I hear my office doorknob rattle at 9 a.m., I yell 

out a greeting to my friends on our custodial 

staff who are keeping me safe through another 

round of disinfecting. Parents chat under tents 

as they pack special treats for teachers. And 

parent Board members and physicians meet 

with Leadership Team members every Tuesday 

evening to plan for the physical and financial 

health of the school.” 

~ Kathy Bartelmay, Curriculum Director 

30 UNDER THE OAK

Project Work in a Pandemic 

By Jenny Murray, Middle School Director 

Duke School has a long history of student 

investigations and inquiries—project work. 

A project is an in-depth investigation of a 

real-world topic worthy of student time and 

attention. Through the years, many Duke 

School projects have been repeated as they 

have become touchstones and 

traditions that students look 

forward to year after year. 

But just as it has in the real 

world, the pandemic has 

changed everything about 

how we do things and nothing 

about why we do them or what 

is truly important in school and 

in life. 

While some tried and true 

projects have engaged 

students in familiar studies 

this year, the pandemic and the election have 

brought different real-world topics and issues 

to our doorstep and into our classrooms. There 

are real-world and real-school problems that 

need to be solved, and our students are ready to 

learn and practice valuable skills and strategies 

to address and solve them. Students have 

helped design their outdoor classroom spaces 

to help keep school doors open for on-campus 

“Protocols due to the 

current pandemic 

may have changed 

the vehicles for 

project work, but 

the reasons for 

student inquiry have 

never been more 

important.” 

learning and designed virtual and physically 

distant games to play at recess. Students 

have also studied electoral politics, voting law 

history, and campaigns in order to understand 

and make meaning out of our current political 

landscape. Additionally, eighth grade students 

are studying viral transmission, 

gathering data, and working 

with researchers from Duke 

University as part of our COVID 

Surveillance Study. 

Whether real-world projects, 

tried-and-true favorites or 

current event-related issues 

to be solved, projects at Duke 

School remain an important 

part of our curriculum. 

Projects engage students 

through questioning, research, 

collaboration and iteration 

through presentations to authentic audiences. 

Protocols due to the current pandemic may 

have changed the vehicles for project work, but 

the reasons for student inquiry have never been 

more important. Students need to practice and 

grow intellectual and personal autonomy if 

they are to become independent learners and 

problem solvers for our complex world. 

UNDER THE OAK 31

Virtual Performances to Connect, 

Showcase, and Learn 

By Matthew Etherington, Performing Arts Teacher 

CONNECTING 

through the 

arts 

SHOWCASING 

our students through 

performance 

LEARNING 

how to present in a live 

online broadcast 

In April, a new kind of performance emerged 

connecting our Duke School community. The 

Virtual Coffee House Concert was born amid 

the social isolation of COVID-19. Each Friday at 

noon, students and families came together on 

Zoom to share music, magic, and drama. 

This was a new arena for us all. I had no idea 

how this would develop, but it felt good to 

engage our artistic selves and share some 

humanity in a time of crisis. Students from all 

grades stepped up to collaborate, rehearse 

and perform. There was something meaningful 

here and we started gaining a steady audience 

as the weeks progressed. Pretty soon, we 

were able to expand our program with a 

Lower School Special, hosted by our very own 

“Musical Megan,” a Family and Faculty week, a 

Strings week, and a showcase of some original 

songs from our halted stage musical production 

There’s No Place Like Home. 

I learned some nifty Zoom tech tricks, an app 

called Acapella which allowed us to collaborate 

on video and, perhaps most importantly, I learned 

just how much we need artistic expression in 

our lives, especially during tough times. I was 

bowled over by our students, our families, 

and our faculty who tried something new and 

pushed themselves beyond comfortable to 

support our community each week. 

32 UNDER THE OAK

Problem Solving Beyond Duke School 

Duke School’s makerspace is all about problem 

solving. With the school operating in distance 

learning in April due to COVID-19, Director of 

Technology Operations and Innovations Brian 

Horton began considering how the school’s 

growing collection of machinery 

and shop tools could serve the 

community during the pandemic. 

engraved with the Duke School logo to donate 

to UNC. The Glowforge cut 50 to 60 ear savers 

in about 15 minutes. Despite that speed, it took 

some time to tweak the template file, add the 

Duke School logo and test the process. Once 

cut, each hook also needed to have 

its heat-resistant paper coating 

peeled away. 

“I was thinking, OK, well we’ve got 

a laser cutter, is there something 

we could make using that?” 

he said. 

Brian found a template for 

adjustable “ear savers” offered 

by Glowforge, the laser cutter’s 

manufacturer. The small, S-shaped 

hooks hold the loops of a surgical 

face mask away from the wearer’s 

ears for a more comfortable fit. 

To make the rigid ear savers more 

comfortable, Brian warmed the 

newly cut hooks on the heated bed 

of one of the school’s 3D printers. 

He then shaped them into curves 

using a large roll of duct tape that 

he said was “just about the size of 

the back of somebody’s head.” 

“It was great, having something to 

do that could help in some way,” he 

said. 

“Once I looked at the file and the materials we 

had on hand, I realized we could make a lot 

of these—and it doesn’t take very long to do 

that,” he said. 

Director of Development, Dr. Kenneth 

W. Chandler, and Assistant Director of 

Development, Corey Savage, helped arrange 

to donate the ear savers to medical personnel 

at the University of North Carolina (UNC) 

Department of Emergency Medicine. After that, 

Brian said, “I turned out as many as I could.” 

Over two days, Brian created 300 ear savers 

In normal times, the makerspace’s laser cutter, 

3D printers, saws, sander, woodworking tools 

and electronic components support student 

projects and teachers’ classroom needs. The 

Glowforge has created pieces for students’ 

architectural designs, miniature wooden cutouts 

of preschoolers and a custom projector mount, 

among other things. 

“Sometimes you just run into really weird 

problems,” Brian said. “Having the ability to 

make something quickly to solve that problem 

is incredibly empowering.” 

UNDER THE OAK 33

Finding Purpose in a Pandemic 

Alumni Ava Claar and Rachel Pellom ’20 turn baking into a fundraising 

enterprise benefiting Durham’s Interfaith Food Shuttle. 

While many of us bemoaned the “lost” summer 

of 2020, recent Duke School graduates Ava 

Claar and Rachel Pellom ‘20 turned their 

pandemic-imposed staycations into a “Baking 

for Change” enterprise that netted over $4,100 

benefiting Durham’s Interfaith Food Shuttle. 

“I've always wanted to do something like this 

to help,” said Ava. “It was this whole idea of, ‘I 

have been provided with this time under very 

unlikely circumstances. So, what am I going to 

do with it to make a difference and make an 

impact?’” 

Inspired by her cousin who launched a similar 

baking fundraiser, Ava recruited her friend Rachel 

as her baking partner. Together they baked and 

delivered over 60 loaves of sourdough, banana, 

and pumpkin breads and blueberry yogurt 

pound cakes to neighbors, friends and family 

during the month of July. Customers donated 

directly to the “Baking for Change” fundraising 

page on the Food Shuttle website. 

“It was a lot of baking … and a lot of trips to the 

grocery store,” added Rachel. 

Choosing an organization to help was 

challenging as they both are passionate about 

many causes. 

“It was really hard to narrow it down to one,” said 

Ava. “Now more than ever, people need food, 

34 UNDER THE OAK

especially during the coronavirus, and it will 

help underprivileged kids and underprivileged 

families. So, that is why I felt very confident 

picking that organization.” 

The girls were already familiar with the Interfaith 

Food Shuttle, participating in the organization’s 

Backpack Buddies program as first graders at 

Duke School. 

“I remember helping pack backpacks in 

first grade—bringing cans of soup and little 

macaroni and cheese packages, putting them 

in bags and donating,” said Rachel. “The Food 

Shuttle is helping a lot of people who are having 

a hard time with their jobs, working from home, 

and providing for their families. I think it was a 

good decision.” 

the money going to go? How are we going to 

keep track of this? How will we contact people? 

How do people contact us?” 

Communication—with clients and each other— 

was key, and one area where they believe Duke 

School trained them well. 

“In Duke School you're taught to communicate 

with people and be friendly and nice. It was 

definitely awkward to go up to those random 

people's doors, but I think it would be so much 

more awkward if we hadn’t gone to a school 

where conversation and openness are a main 

focus,” said Ava. 

The girls will consider future service ventures as 

their schedules permit, and they expect their 

Duke School ties to undoubtably play a role. 

It was a learning experience in many ways. 

Rachel and Ava gained valuable business 

knowledge by setting up a business email 

account, building a webpage, and managing 

their orders and deliveries in a spreadsheet. 

“I didn't realize how much work it was—not just 

baking, but organizing,” said Rachel. “Where's 

“If I were to do this again, I would definitely, like 

right out of the gate, contact the Duke School 

community because I know that people in this 

community are thoughtful and they really do 

care,” said Ava. “If we want to do something 

like this, we can fall back on them and their 

generosity to try and make a difference and 

make a change.”

STAYING CONNECTED: 

DRAGONLINGS ON THE RISE 

In 2017, Duke School enrolled its first child of an alumna, Elizabeth Frazier, daughter 

of Usha Haynes Frazier ’91. The number of dragonlings has now increased to 10 

for the 2020-21 school year. We are honored that our alumni value their Duke 

School experiences so much that they want the same for their own children. 

Elizabeth ’28 wears her mom’s Duke School shirt, and William ’97, wears his 

commemorative graduation shirt! 

“Duke School impacted my life in such a deep 

way that when I had a child of my own it was 

important that she be given the opportunity to 

experience Duke School herself. Duke School 

provided me with a safe environment and 

lifelong friends as well as a solid educational 

foundation. Personally, I always wanted my 

middle and high school experiences to live up 

to my Duke School years. For my daughter, 

I wanted her to learn how to think for herself, 

value her abilities, and never view learning as 

a chore. Duke School accomplishes that with 

amazing and adaptive teachers, open culture, 

and immersive projects in which I never even 

realized the details I was learning. One of my 

class projects helped me to realize my passion 

for customer service which has since become my 

career. While it has been decades since I got to spend my days at Duke School, 

I remain grateful every day for the teachers and their approaches to learning 

that have given me the tools to address life’s challenges head-on.” 

~Usha Haynes Frazier, Duke School Class of 1991 

Elizabeth ’28 

36 UNDER THE OAK

“Choosing Duke School for my son Linus (and soon his 

brother Peter) was one of the easiest choices I have ever 

made. I feel so lucky to see him thriving at the same school 

that gave me so much of my start in life. When I remember 

my own time at Duke School, I remember teachers who 

made me feel like I was special, who opened my eyes to 

the breadth of the world, nurtured my love of stories, my 

love of science, and helped me learn how to share and 

be kind to others. And more than that, Duke School was a 

community of safety, caring and vision, and it still is today. 

Things about the school have changed, and the buildings 

are different, but the fiber of the place—a progressive 

school where gifted teachers nurture the good in each 

individual child—remains the same. Duke School is a place 

that recognizes that a school is not an amalgam of outcomes and test scores. It's a deeply 

philosophical project, to raise the next generations of thinkers, leaders, and upstanders. The 

project continues.” 

~Dr. William Jeck, Duke School Class of 1997 

Linus ’29 

“I spent 10 years at Duke School through eighth grade 

graduation. This time shaped much of who I am today. Duke 

School encouraged a love of learning, an ability to critically 

and creatively solve any problem and a pride in being a 

well-rounded, whole person. Even more important is how 

Duke School teaches these values. The process is truly a 

community effort, where students, teachers and parents 

work together to achieve their goals: to learn by doing, to 

have fun together while learning and to encourage each 

other to be the best possible people we can be. 

Why would you not want your children to be part of the 

Duke School community?” 

~Benjamin Edell, Duke School Class of 1995 

Ace ‘28 and Luke ‘30 

UNDER THE OAK 37

A Special Message to 

Duke School Grads 

Speech by Isaiah Bryant ‘10 

Photo Credit: AY Bryant, 

Duke School Alumni Parent 

I'd love to start by thanking Jenny and Dave for 

inviting me to share this very special day with 

all of you. 

This is a momentous day and so congratulations 

to you, Class of 2020. This is your very first 

graduation of many, and the beginning of a 

new chapter for each of you. I wanted to briefly 

share with you some of the things that I've 

carried with me, being in your seat a decade 

ago. 

After graduating from Duke School in 2010, Isaiah 

Bryant attended Jordan High School and the North 

Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. He 

went on to study biomathematics, bioinformatics, 

and computational biology at Brown University and 

graduated with a B.S. degree in 2018. He is now a 

product business analyst at Sema4 in New York, NY. 

definitely not making bricks—they have 

machines for that. 

As we are all aware, Duke School is a privileged 

place with a great many things to offer— 

excellent teachers, fantastic curriculum, great 

friends. But, I wanted to focus on something 

today that has helped me in particular, which is 

the power of a project. 

For some of you, this will be your ninth year 

showcasing your curiosity through projects. 

And for some of you, it's the end of your first. 

But for all of you, it certainly will not be the last. 

I remember some of my favorite Duke School 

projects over the years. I had a chance to 

explore the butterfly lifecycle in real time. 

I stepped into the shoes of a brick mason as 

part of the Williamsburg project. And I used my 

eighth grade project to learn how to play the 

Spanish flamenco guitar. 

Today though, I'm not a professional guitarist. 

I'm not a butterfly entomologist, and I'm 

And while I learned several things about music, 

nature and history, the most important things I 

learned from those projects are the things that I 

didn't even know I was learning. 

Those are the abilities that you've been working 

so hard toward: the ability to ask the questions 

that you're curious about—whether it's an 

investigation into something new or applied to 

a problem that you found; the ability to plan 

a way to answer those questions; the ability 

to seek help when you get stuck; the ability to 

do something with the answers you discover; 

the ability to share those answers and those 

solutions with those around you; and most 

importantly, the ability to reflect about the 

process and make it better in the future. 

It's those skills that are the ones that I've taken 

with me from Duke School along the way. And 

since, I've been working on projects that have 

been the most important to me—projects with 

38 UNDER THE OAK

the goal of helping to get each patient the right 

treatment at the right time. 

This was a journey that actually began in high 

school. My eyes were first opened to the 

possibility that we could be using computers 

to help answer biological questions, and health 

questions, when I spent part of my junior year 

learning how to code to support the research 

I was doing. That was a project. 

Just this past year, I wanted to 

discover how I could change my 

job to be more connected to 

the things that I was interested 

in, and that would help me grow 

the skills I wanted to grow. That 

was a project. 

Now my days are spent working 

with my team to try and build 

apps that help scientists and 

doctors interpret their patients’ 

DNA and find the best treatments 

that will work for them. Those 

are all projects. 

And it's not just the big things. 

At the end of last year, I set out 

to learn how to make the perfect buttermilk 

biscuit. And believe me, it did involve a lot of 

research and maybe even an Excel spreadsheet. 

And as I've gotten better, my family has been 

thankful for the sharing portion of the project. 

This is all to say, the projects you embark on after 

Duke School may be large, they may be small, 

they may be personal or focused outwards, but 

into each of them you'll carry your experiences 

that you've had here off of Erwin Road. 

Finally, I want to share an experience that made 

me think of all of you. This Tuesday, I had the 

opportunity to be in New York City to march 

with thousands of others for justice and changes 

to policing. At the end of the day, 15,000 of us 

gathered in Bryant Park to listen to speeches 

from organizers. 

As we kneeled, a young woman stood up above 

the crowd and began by introducing 

herself over the loudspeaker. She said, 

“My name is Nupol Kiazolu. I'm 19 

years old and I'm the president of Black 

Lives Matter of Greater New York.” 

At just 19, she was able to lead a 

group of thousands marching through 

the city. This organization and these 

marches are her projects, and the 

skills and tools that you have been 

cultivating are powerful. 

So while this year is full of big and 

unexpected new challenges, you've 

already shown that you can be flexible 

in the face of these challenges— 

finishing your eighth grade projects 

and your classes over Zoom. 

And as you move on to high school, whatever 

you choose as your next project—whether it's 

organizing for something in your community, 

researching a topic that fascinates you, writing 

an album or a play, or just making the best 

buttermilk biscuits possible—each of you is 

graduating with all the tools you need to put 

your mind to it and make it a reality. 

So, thank you and congratulations to you, the 

Class of 2020 Duke School Dragons. 

UNDER THE OAK 39

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS 

Congratulations, Duke School’s Class of 2020! 

Please keep us updated on your continued success at the following high schools: 

Carolina Friends School (5) 

Cary Academy 

Cedar Ridge High School (4) 

Chapel Hill Senior High School 

Chatham Hall 

Durham Academy (6) 

Durham School of the Arts (2) 

Dwight School 

East Chapel Hill High School (7) 

Eno River Academy 

Jordan High School (6) 

Leesville Road High School 

Riverside High School (8) 

Saint Mary’s School 

Trinity School of Durham and 

Chapel Hill (3) 

Woodberry Forest School 

Woods Charter School 

JOIN US! 

Join Duke School’s Alumni 

Facebook and LinkedIn 

Group—forums for 

reconnection with former 

classmates while keeping 

in touch with Duke School. 

Duke School’s Class of 2020 Graduation Car Parade. 

40 UNDER THE OAK

#ALWAYSADRAGON 

Congratulations, Duke School’s Class of 2016! 

We wish you much success at the following colleges and universities: 

Appalachian State University 

Brown University (3) 

Colorado College 

Columbia University 

Davidson College 

Duke University (3) 

Elon University 

Guilford College 

Johns Hopkins University 

Muhlenberg College 

North Carolina State University 

NYU Shanghai 

NYU Steinhardt 

Oberlin College and 

Conservatory 

Pennsylvania State University 

Savannah College of Art and 

Design 

Skidmore College 

Texas Christian University 

Tulane University 

Tufts University 

University of Colorado Boulder 

University of North Carolina 

at Asheville 

University of North Carolina 

at Chapel Hill (4) 

University of South Carolina 

UWC Atlantic College 

Wake Forest University 

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and 

State University 

Duke School’s Class of 2016 Reunion. 

UNDER THE OAK 41

“Duke School is such a magical place. My daughter has learned much 

of her kind and generous nature from being a part of this community. We 

are honored to be at the school and it is the least we can do. I especially 

love the school bringing back a sense of normalcy in this trying time.” 

~Tia Black, Duke School Parent 

Jana ‘23 

“Our family supports Duke School because we believe in the 

school’s mission and recognize that tuition alone is not sufficient to 

support all goals and needs. This has been brought in focus during 

the COVID crisis, when quick pivots to enable safe learning 

required resources. We feel confident that Duke School uses 

donations meaningfully and responsibly.” 

~Ethan Basch & Joy Goodwin, Duke School Parents 

Eliza ‘23

Duke School 2019-20 

Annual Report 

Tuition/Fees 

88.7% 

INCOMES 

Net Tuition & Fees 

This income is derived from student tuition, The Learning 

Center and certain fee charges. 

Net Fund Raising 

4.3% 

Auxiliary Programs 

6% 

Other 

1% 


This is income from all camps, after school programs and 

educator workshops. 

Net Fund Raising 

This category embraces our fund-raisers and Dragon fund net 

figures. 

Salaries/Benefits 

73.5% 

EXPENSES 

Classroom Resources 

and Other Admin Costs 

16.1% 

Debt 

1.5% 

Facilities 

3.8% 


5.1% 

Salaries & Benefits and Classroom & 

Administrative Costs 

These categories include all expenses related to instructional 

and academic activity, including faculty and staff salaries and 

benefits, programmatic expenses, student support services, 

classroom materials and supplies, media centers, professional 

development, technology and laptops, and special programs. 

All included are expenses related to Duke School Admissions, 

Marketing and Communications, Human Resources, Business, 

and Development Offices, etc. 

Facilities 

This category includes all costs related to operations and 

the repair and maintenance of school-owned facilities and 

grounds. It includes: utilities, waste removal, supplies, repair 

and maintenance of campus buildings, grounds, streets, fields 

and related machinery and equipment. 

2019-20 Campaign Highlight: 

$326,625 Total Giving 

(including the Dragon Fund 

and fundraising events) 

*Data is based on a June 2020 year-end forecast. 

Duke School’s distribution of income and expenses 

were impacted due to COVID-19. If you have any 

questions about this budgetary information, please 

contact Russell Rabinowitz, director of finance and 

operations, at russell.rabinowitz@dukeschool.org. 

Debt Service 

This category represents the payment of interest and principle 

on outstanding tax-exempt revenue bonds. The bonds are used 

to finance the costs of construction, improvement, renovation, 

furnishing, and equipping the existing school. 


This is income from all camps, after school programs, and The 

Educators Institute at Duke School. 

UNDER THE OAK 43

“I give because Duke School is my home!” ~Michelle Reich, 

Duke School Alumni Parent & Middle School Teacher

2019-20 Honor Roll of Donors 

Board of Trustees 

Advancement Committee 

Ben Abram 

Lawrence Baxter 

Garry Cutright 

Christopher Gergen 

Richard Griffin 

Clint Harris 

Elizabeth Hays 

Trina Jones 

Corey McIntyre 

Florence Peacock 

Gary Pellom 

Monica Rivers 

Bimal Shah 

Julie Shermak 

Craig Spitzer 

Vicki Threlfall 

Jeff Welty 

Alison Windram 

Yousuf Zafar 

Patricia Ashley 

Omar Bell 

Sarah Doran 

John Gardner 

Florence Peacock 

Gary Pellom 

Craig Spitzer 

Vicki Threlfall 

Alex Tolstykh 

Alison Windram 

1947 Society 

20 Years 

Kathy Bartelmay and Roger Perilstein 

Lee and Libby Buck 

Duke University Medical Center 

Harris Teeter 

Hui Li and Fan Yuan 

Debbie Marshall 

Bob Robinson and Marya McNeish 

Jane Shears 

Candy and John Thompson 

Marki Watson 

15 Years 

Elaine Cameron 

Keith DaSilva and Kay Kohring-DaSilva 

Emily Feldman-Kravitz and Richard 

Kravitz 

Carolynn Klein 

Chris Marshall and Moira Smullen 

Jenny and Craig Murray 

Emily and Lee Taft 

Melanie and Lars Trost 

Becca and Julian Wooldridge 

10 Years 

Tanya Chartrand and Gavan Fitzsimons 

Rachel and Jonathon Cummings 

Eman Elmahi and Husam Hasanin 

Jeanne Gatling 

Annie and George Gentithes 

Jane and James Hales 

Leslie Hamilton 

Robin Hardie-Hood and Thomas Hood 

Beth and Jeff Harris 

Clint and Kylie Harris 

Elizabeth and David Hays 

Mary Beth Hes and Honza Hes 

Amy and Jamie Lau 

Carla Horta and James Leo 

Tekla Jachimiak and Thomas Brothers 

Susan Sugarman and David Kirsch 

T Land 

Joy Martin and Ben Philpot 

Dave and Claudia Michelman 

Gary and Carelyn Monroe 

Beth and Ed Murgitroyd 

Miriam Ornstein and David Luks 

Gary and Kirstin Pellom 

Russell Rabinowitz 

Katie Ree 

Michelle and Brian Reich 

Naz Siddiqui and Casey Jenkins 

Kim Spancake and Drew Snider 

Nicole Thompson 

Mary Townsend and Jon Stiber 

Alison and Soren Windram 

5 Years 

Natalie and Chris Aho 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Anderson 

Love and Ian Anderson 

Meytal Barak and Micky Cohen-Wolkowiez 

Lawrence and Sharon Baxter 

India and Ryan Bayley 

Geoff Berry 

Tia and Martin Black 

Dr. and Mrs. Dan Blazer, II 

Kristin and Steve Bradley-Bull 

Lucy and Tom Bradshaw 

Laurie Braun and John Taylor 

Dayna Brill 

Joel and Beverly Brown 

Susan Cates and Scott Warren 

Dr. Kenneth W. Chandler 

Robyn and Jamie Claar 

Heather Clarkson and Sean Wilmer 

Heidi and Jason Cope 

Lisa Criscione-Schreiber and Eric Schreiber 

Linda Cronenwett and Shirley Tuller 

Rachel and Jonathon Cummings 

Kiersten and Clint Dart 

Mrs. Lynn Delicio 

Mrs. Penny Dietz 

Elise Dunzo 

Maureen Dwyer 

Foley Dyson 

Sarah Ellestad and Ron Przybycien 


Matthew and Cleo Etherington 

Emily Feldman-Kravitz and Richard Kravitz 

Ben Felton 

Mr. and Mrs. John Gardner 

Katie Garman and Tom Becker 

UNDER THE OAK 45

General Mills Box Tops for Education 

Victoria Goatley 

Brian Greene 

Heather and Bret Greene 

Richard Griffin and Lisa Kern Griffin 

Tery and Michael Gunter 

Dr. Vasudha Gupta and Dr. Bhupender 

Gupta 

Jennifer Harris 

Mary and Stephen Harward 

Wendy and Paul Henderson 

Daniel Heuser 

Sunshine and Joel Hillygus 

Kerry Holbrook 

Diane Hom and Chris Larson 

Beatrice Hong and Ziad Gellad 

Brian Horton 

Sandra and Peter Jacobi 

Nancy and Timothy Joyce 

Lisa Kahan and Duncan Higgins 

Cara and Ravi Karra 

Richard and Lisa Kern Griffin 

Susan Sugarman and David Kirsch 

Claire and Matt Koerner 

T Land 

Jodie LaPoint and Chris Weymouth 

Ms. Ann Lawrence and Mr. Steve Leinwand 

Charlotte Lee and David Siegel 

Catherine Linford 

Jian Liu and Jia Li 

Mr. Steve Markey 

Julie Marshall 

Mollie and Chad Mather 

Ms. Brenda Matthews 

Tiffany Matthews 

William K. Matthews 

Kristin and Corum McNealy 

Beth and Tim Miller 

Meghan Morris 

Sari Palmroth and Ram Oren 

Florence and James Peacock 

Natalie and Emiliano Corral 

Kelly and Jeff Powrie 

Tina and Mitch Prinstein 

Linda Raftery and Phil Spiro 

M.C. Ragsdale and Karen Popp 

Katie Ree 

Grechen and Jonas Sahratian 

Whitney and John Sandor 

Erin and Todd Sarver 

Richard Scher 

Gita Schonfeld and Marvin Swartz 

Claire and Mark Scullion 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Selder 

Julie Shermak and Steve Goodman 


Lisa Simmons 

Irecka Smith 

Renee and Joseph Francis Smith 

Darryl Spancake 

Rona and Craig Spitzer 

Jinda and Kevin Stoll 

Dr. and Mrs. Edward Sugarman 

Jessica and Albert Sun 

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Sun 

Stephanie and Nathan Vandergrift 

Linda Vargas 

Jeff Welty and Lori Etter 

Rachel Wertheimer 

Megan Whitted 

Kia Williams 

Jen Wu and Shane McSwain 

Yousuf Zafar and Fatima Rangwala 

3 Years 

Timothy Adams 

Chandra and Taro Aikawa 

Amazon Smiles 

Mr. and Ms. William Andrews 

Grace and Mattie Beason 

Grace Bell 

Omar Bell 

Rachel Brewster and James Mulholland 

Leslie Bryan 

Cathy Bryson and Kelly Bruce 

Mara Buchbinder and Jesse Summers 

Natalie Cappadona 

Lisa Connelly and Charles Vance 

Jen Crawford Cook and Steve Cook 

Garry and Keisha Cutright 

Mrs. Gail Daves 

Eddy Davis 

Tracie DeLoatch 

Dan Divis 

Sarah Doran and Amanda Patten 

Melissa and Josh Eggleston 

Dan Epperson 

Dr. Anabelle Estrera and Dr. Clemente 

Estrera 

Ben Felton 

Meghan Fitzpatrick 

Grainne Fitzsimons and Aaron Kay 

Louise and Sean Flynn 

Gisela Fosado and Nick Buchler 

Jing Fu and Wangming Ye 

Christopher Gergen and Heather Graham 

Mr. and Mrs. Barna Gibson 

Pam and Russell Goin 

Elizabeth and Taylor Greganti 

Dr. Timothy Harward and Dr. Mary Harward 

Karen Heller and Colleen McLaughlin 

Lauren Hiner 

Leah and Joe Houde 

Elizabeth Howell 

Ms. Diane Hundley 

Tonya Hunt 

Janeia Knox 

Jin Yi Kwon and Larry Moray 

Judith Landrigan 


Mr. and Mrs. Greg Lau 

Marin Levy and Joseph Blocher 

Catherine and Matt Luedke 

Venetha Machock 

Lucia Marcus 

Maria Mar Martinez Pastor and Jorge 

Marques Signes 

Octavia Matthews 

Corey and Kelly McIntyre 

Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Mulholland 

Susanna Naggie and Chuck Gerardo 

Anne and Phil Napoli 

Megan and Ben Neely 

Ilana Osten and Jason Liss 

Shital and Nilay Patel 

Monica and Prince Rivers 

Marya McNeish and Robert Robinson 

Dillion Ross 

Moira Rynn and Al Caltabiano 

Leah Sansbury and Trip Boyer 

Vanessa and Jacob Schroder 

Mrs. Jane Scocca 

Theresa and Dave Scocca 

Bimal and Rina Shah 

Michael J. Szott 

Christina and Clay Thomas 

Laura Thompson (‘98) 

Alex Tolstykh and Rick Sanchez 

Stephanie and Nathan Vandergrift 

Jill and Ben Weinberger 

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Weinberger 

Lauren and Mike West 

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Widmark 

Sean Wilmer and Heather Clarkson 

Nikita and R.J. Wirth 

Stacy Young and David Brown

“We give because we want to make a difference” 

~Catherine Linford & Jennifer Harris, Preschool Teachers

Giving Clubs 

Founder’s Club 

($10,000+) 

Under the Oak Club 

($5,000-$9,999) 

Hull Avenue Club 

($2,500-$4,999) 

Erwin Road Club 

($1,000-$2,499) 

Dragon’s Club 

($500-$999) 

Maroon Club 

($250-$499) 

Donor’s Club 

(Up to $249)

Giving Clubs 

Founder's Club ($10,000+) 

Anonymous 

Duke University Medical Center 

Christopher Gergen and Heather Graham 

Richard Griffin and Lisa Kern Griffin 

M.C. Ragsdale and Karen Popp 

Sanchez-Tolstykh Family 

Under the Oak Club ($5,000-$9,999) 

Anonymous 

Regi and Michael Bradley 

Cathy Bryson and Kelly Bruce 

Sarah Doran and Amanda Patten 

Elizabeth and David Hays 

Moray Family 


Vanessa and Jacob Schroder 

Julie Shermak and Steve Goodman 

Hull Avenue Club ($2,500-$4,999) 

Ben ('99) and Sophia Abram 

Patricia Ashley and Chris Newgard 

Lawrence and Sharon Baxter 


Susan Cates and Scott Warren 

Tanya Chartrand and Gavan Fitzsimons 

Joy Goodwin and Ethan Basch 

Robin Hardie-Hood and Thomas Hood 

Gary and Carelyn Monroe 

Beth and Ed Murgitroyd 

Mark and Claire Scullion 

Bimal and Rina Shah 

Naz Siddiqui and Casey Jenkins 

Craig and Rona Spitzer 

Melanie and Lars Trost 

Jeff Welty and Lori Etter 

Yousuf Zafar and Fatima Rangwala 

Erwin Road Club ($1,000-$2,499) 

Anonymous (6) 

Susan and Bill Andrews 

Sumi Ariely 

Karen and Tom Baker 

Kathy Bartelmay and Roger Perilstein 

Omar Bell 


Breitfeld Family 

Libby and Lee Buck 


Garry and Keisha Cutright 


Erica Field 

Amanda and Ken Gall 

Katie Garman and Tom Becker 

Jeanne Gatling 

Mr. and Mrs. Barna Gibson 

Clint and Kylie Harris 

Mr. and Mrs. Joel Huber 

Ms. Diane Hundley 

Eric and Emily Iverson 


Mollie and Chad Mather 

Dave and Claudia Michelman 

Beth and Tim Miller 

Jeanine and Bill Miller 

Jenny and Craig Murray 

Susanna Naggie and Chuck Gerardo 

Mariana Olvera and Albert Whangbo 

Shital and Nilay Patel 

Florence and James Peacock 

Gary and Kirstin Pellom 

Russell Rabinowitz 

Moira Rynn and Al Caltabiano 


Connie and Truman Semans 

Martha and Blair Sheppard 

Katie and JD Simpson 

Susan Sugarman Kirsch and David Kirsch 

Candy and John Thompson 

Triangle Ecycling 

The Vandergrift Family 

Widmark Family Fund of Triangle Community 

Foundation 

Alison and Soren Windram 


Dragon's Club ($500-$999) 

Anonymous (6) 

Mrs. Placide Barada 

Grover Burthey ('98) 

Robyn and Jamie Claar 

Kay and Keith DaSilva 

Jeremiah and Christina Dodson 


Vasudha and Bhupender Gupta 

Melanie Hatz-Levinson and Howie Levinson 

Hugh Hobbs Jr. and Elaine Hobbs 

The Houde Family 

Trina Jones 


Denise Kassab and Rafael Dix Carneiro 

Jian Liu and Jia Li 

Shannon and Sam Mallery 

Corey and Kelly McIntyre 

McKinney Matching Gift Program 

Kristin and Corum McNealy 

Jamaal ('94) and Michelle Mayo 


Vicky Parente and Ben 

Wildman-Tobriner 


Lindsay and Matthew Rein 

David and Pegeen Rubinstein 


Lipi and Sunil Suchindran 


Mary Pat and Ken Templeton 

Linda Vargas 

Dr. and Mrs. James Wayne 

Stacy Young and David Brown 

Maroon Club ($250-$499) 

Anonymous (14) 

Casey and Neil Bagchi 

Emily Bahna and Ram Neta 

Ms. Diane Bailey 

Dr. Linda Basch and Dr. Sam Basch 

Grace and Mattie Beason 

Dr. and Mrs. Dan Blazer, II 

Rachel Brewster and James 

Mulholland 

Penelope Dempsey Dietz 

Julia DiPrete and Jason Keith 

Jackie Dzau and Aaron Lentz 

Cat Goyeneche and Steve Marks 

Robyn Gunn and Will Dean 

Harris Teeter 

Karen and Colleen 

Heller-McLaughlin 

Beatrice Hong and Ziad Gellad 

Kralic Family 


Ann Lawrence and Steve Leinwand 

Liss Family 

Judith Lynch 

Caroline Mage and Josh Schoedler 

Goldis Malek and Boris Reidel 

Debbie Marshall 

Maxon Family Foundation 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert McCorkle 

Hetal and Abhi Mehrotra 

Vicki and Gilbert Muller 

Kelly and Jeff Powrie 

Monica and Prince Rivers 

Rosen Family 

Whitney and John Sandor 

UNDER THE OAK 49

Lisa and Eric Schreiber 

Moira Smullen and Chris Marshall 

Kim Spancake and Drew Snider 

Vicki Threlfall and Molly O'Neill 

Fabi and Ron Unger 

Rebecca Walsh and Jim Shah 

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Weinberger 

Sean Wilmer and Heather Clarkson 

Donor (Up to $249) 

Anonymous (26) 

Timothy Adams 


Chandra and Taro Aikawa 

Amazon Smiles 

Kathleen and Robert Anderson 

Anderson Family 

Maribel Aristy 

Sarah and Kenneth Bausell 

Geoff Berry 

Tia and Martin Black 

Logan Blaylock 

Mr. Ed Blocher and Ms. Sandy Powers 

Jennifer and Lee Bollinger 

Boyer Family 

Mrs. Lana Bradley 

Kristin and Steve Bradley-Bull 

Lucy and Tom Bradshaw 

Dayna Brill 

Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein and Eric 

Rubinstein 

Mrs. Brenda L. Brown 

Leslie Bryan 

Lynn Brynes 

Mara Buchbinder and Jesse Summers 

Christine Caffarello 

Elaine Cameron 

Maria Cassinelli-Bernstein and Fernando 

Bernstein 

Emily Chavez 

Meihua Chen and Denis Kalenja 


Mr. and Mrs. Dick Claar 

Lisa Connelly and Charles Vance 

The Cope Family 


Emma Cromwell 

Linda Cronenwett and Shirley Tuller 

Kiersten and Clint Dart 

Eddy Davis 


Tracie DeLoatch 

Dan Divis 

Mr. and Mrs. Keith Dodson 

Patricia Dodson 

Dr. Marc and Patricia Dorio 


Maureen Dwyer 

Sarah Dwyer 

Foley Dyson 

Mr. and Mrs. David Easterling 


Dan Epperson 

Dr. Anabelle Estrera and Dr. Clemente 

Estrera 

Matthew and Cleo Etherington 

Kelly Farrell and Tobe Sexton 

Emily Feldman-Kravitz and Richard Kravitz 

Ben Felton 

Elizabeth and David Finley 

Louise and Sean Flynn 

Jing Fu and Wangming Ye 

Mr. and Mrs. John Gardner 

Ms. Carol Garth 

General Mills Box Tops for Education 

Annie and George Gentithes 

Cindy Glass 

Brian Greene 

Emily Greene 

Heather and Bret Greene 

Elizabeth and Taylor Greganti 

Tery and Michael Gunter 

Jane and James Hales 


Jennifer Harris 


Mr. and Mrs. Larry Hawley 

Wendy and Paul Henderson 

Mary Beth Hes and Honza Hes 

Daniel Heuser 

Sunshine and Joel Hillygus 

Lauren Hiner 

Jennie and Ryan Hobbs 


Diane Hom and Chris Larson 

Carla Horta and James Leo 

Dana Howard 

Neva Howard and Shahar Link 


Jenny and Cameron Howell 

Morgan Hundley 

Tonya Hunt 

Tekla Jachimiak and Thomas 

Brothers 

Sandra and Peter Jacobi 

Abby and William Jeck ('97) 

Jasmine and Nathan Johnson 

Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Jonas 

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Jotwani 

Roshna and Ed Keen 

Amy and Rob Kingsley 

Grace Kirkland 

Hélène and Alexander Kirshner 

Carolynn Klein 

Janeia Knox 

Koerner Family 

T Land 

Amy and Jamie Lau 


Nicoleta Lazar 

Charlotte Lee and David Siegel 

Lynn Leubuscher and Chris 

McLaughlin 

Marin Levy and Joseph Blocher 

Mary Lewis and Curtis Stiles 

Hui Li and Fan Yuan 

Catherine Linford 

Kate Lloyd 

Locopops 

Carolina and Craven Lowe 

Mr. and Mrs. Tim Lowe 

Stacy Lubov and Jeffrey Bryan 

The Luedkes 


Mr. Ken Magura and Dr. Connie 

Magure 

Lucia Marcus 

Mr. Steve Markey 

Maria Mar Martinez Pastor and Jorge 

Marques Signes 

Brenda G. Matthews 




Amy and Scott McAllister 

Mr. Don McKinney 

Paulette Mehas 

Chiara Melloni and Pierluigi Tricoci 

Dr. Paula Mitchell and Dr. Ed Haynes 

Jennifer Moore 

Meghan Morris 

Tori Morton 


Will Newman ('07) 

Miriam Ornstein and David Luks 

Melody Peaks 

Sirisha Perumandla and Gopinath 

Kotla 

Edie and Gary Poole 

Katie Ree 

Michelle and Brian Reich 

Bob Robinson and Marya McNeish 

Dillion Ross 

Kerry and Andrew Ross 

Kara and Andy Rudd 

Grechen and Jonas Sahratian 

Elizabeth Sasser and Kelly Sasser 

Corey Savage 

Paula Scatoloni and Andy Ovenden

Richard Scher 

Barb and Don Schoene 

Gita Schonfeld and Marvin Swartz 

Mrs. Jane Scocca 

Theresa and Dave Scocca 

Diba Shams 

The Shaw Family 

Jane Shears 

Lisa Simmons 

Ann Skye and Jami Norris 

Irecka Smith 

Janet and Roy Smith 


Trent Smith ('14) 

Darryl Spancake 

Mrs. Helene Spitzer 

Mr. Steve Stephenson and Ms. 

Regina Hugo 

Mr. and Mrs. Ted Strader 

Dr. and Mrs. Edward Sugarman 

Michael J. Szott 

Mr. and Mrs. John Templeton 

Ann and Josh Thaden 

Christina and Clay Thomas 

Juliana Thomas 

Laura Thompson ('98) 

Mary Townsend and Jon Stiber 

Dr. and Mrs. Prabhakar Vaidya 

Sharia Warren 

Marki Watson 

Rachel Wertheimer 

Lauren and Mike West 

Megan Whitted 

Kia Williams 

Kourtney and Jefferson Williams 

Maurice Williams 

Jane and John Winch 

Becca and Julian Wooldridge 

Laura and Duncan Work 

Sarah and Edwin Yarbrough 

Event and School Sponsors 

Batchelor, Tillery & Roberts LLP 

Bull City Family Medicine and 

Pediatrics 

The Durham Hotel 

Gordon Asset Management 

The Happy Tooth Foundation 

Indulge Catering 

King’s Red & White 

New Hope Animal Hospital 

Triangle Ecyling 

The Umstead Hotel and Spa 

Gifts in Kind 


The Cheesecake Factory 

Ann Christensen and Allen Duffer 

Matt Duffer (‘99) 

Ross Duffer (‘99) 

Elise Dunzo 

Sharon and Neil Freedman 

Jennifer and Michael Gilchrist 


Laura and Chris Sample 

Holly and John Williams 

Gifts In Honor of Aftercare Workers 

Stacy Bailey and Matt Russell 


Julia DiPrete and Jason Keith 

Erica Field 

Grainne Fitzsimons and Aaron Kay 

Robyn Gunn and Will Dean 

Karen Heller and Colleen McLaughlin 

Leah and Joe Houde 

Mr. and Mrs. Joel Huber 


Denise Kassab and Rafael Dix Carneiro 

Roshna and Ed Keen 

Caroline Mage and Josh Schoedler 



Vicky Parente and Ben 

Wildman-Tobriner 


Jen Rogers and Mike Allingham 



“I give because I appreciate the impact of a Duke School education!” 

~Will Newman ‘07, Duke School Alumnus & Middle School Teacher

Gifts were made in honor of Duke School Faculty, Staff, Students and 

the overall Duke School Community by the following: 


Love and Ian Anderson 

Mr. and Ms. William Andrews 

Dr. Linda Basch and Dr. Sam Basch 

Omar Bell 

Mr. Ed Blocher and Ms. Sandy Powers 


Grover Burthey 


Tabitha Combs and Tom Craven 



Mrs. Penny Dietz 

Mr. and Mrs. David Easterling 


Dr. Vasudha Gupta and Dr. Bhupender Gupta 





Mr. and Mrs. Mark Jotwani 

Kay Kohring-DaSilva and Keith DaSilva 

T Land 



Mary Lewis and Curtis Stiles 

Stacy Lubov and Jeffrey Bryan 

Mr. Ken Magura and Dr. Connie Magure 

Maria Mar Martinez Pastor and Jorge Marques Signes 

Ms. Brenda Matthews 




Jeanine and Bill Miller 


Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Muller 

Edie and Gary Poole 


Jen Rogers and Mike Allingham 


Diba Shams 

Janet and Roy Smith 


Trent Smith (‘14) 

Simon Summer 

Marki Watson 

Maurice Williams 

Cam and Finn Aho 

Ethan and Percy Anderson 

Noah and Ariel Andrews 

Eliza Basch 

Aiden and Olivia Bell 

Ben and Sam Blocher 

JE, Milly, Louden and Oliver Sandor 

Dave Michelman 

7th Grade Poets 

Emily Taft and Eman Elmani 

Caroline and Jack Greganti 

Amelia Hart 

Alex and Tori Houde 

Tallulah Easterling 

Julie Marshall 

Neta Ariely 

Tori Morton 

Jane and Grechen/Jennifer and Catherine 


Cameron, Jenny and Elizabeth Howell 

Mia and Mason Jotwani 


Diversity and Equity at Duke School 

Ilaria, Hero and Petra Bayley 

Alexis and Natalie Lau 

Reed Stiles 

Rudy Lubov 

Amelia Rein 

John Marques 

Nia Stroud 

Nia Stroud 

Nia Stroud 

Nia Stroud 

Amelia Miller 

Evelyn Grace Brewster Mulholland 

Oliver, Everett, Alena Sun 

DS teachers and employees 

Claire and Adriane Spiro 

Rowan and Reese 

Chloe and LIly Gilchrist 

Hannah and Sienna Khandani 

Casey Smith 

Trent Smith and DS Class of 2014 

Renee Smith 

Grace Bell 

Lauren West 

Kia and Kity Williams 

52 UNDER THE OAK

The following donations have been made in memory of 

loved ones, special friends and former Dragons: 

Grace Bell 

Geoff Berry 

The Cheesecake Factory 

Elise Dunzo 



Cat Goyeneche and Steve Marks 

Melanie Hatz-Levinson and Howie Levinson 



Steve Markey 

Meghan Morris 


Tisha Powell-Wayne and James Wayne 

Richard Scher 


Juliana Thomas 

Andy Barada 

Love 

Mark Dunzo 

Mark Dunzo 

Edward "Big Ed" Jackson 

Norma and Frank Carmody 

Mama Ging and Gran 

Gene Levinson 



Claudia Markey 


Judy Byck 

Brenda Reed Powell 

Milton Scher 

Mary Scott Hoyt 

Fabio Arciviegas 

2019-20 Class Parent Participation 

100 

90 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

PS K 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 

Dragon Fund is accepting international currency! Duke School’s Development Office encourages 

families to donate unused foreign currency (paper) and apply it to the school’s Dragon Fund. 

Please contact us at (919) 493-9968 for more information and to give! 

We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of information contained in the annual 

Honor Roll of Donors. If you have a question about a listing, please contact a 

member of the Development Office at (919) 493-9968. 

UNDER THE OAK 53

Special Thanks to Duke School’s 

2019-20 Fire & Wind Dragon Sponsors! 

children 

adults 

ORTHODONTICS 

UNDER THE OAK 55

PRSRT STD 

US POSTAGE 

PAID 

DURHAM NC 

PERMIT # 112 

Follow us @DukeSchool1 

Photo Credit: Jen Cook, 

Duke School Parent 

In April, Duke School launched a DS Cares Grant—an initiative to help support families who 

were impacted financially due to COVID-19. Since then, the Duke School Cares campaign has 

expanded to include video messages of appreciation to all essential workers, a showcase of our 

family-owned businesses, and a DS Cares website for the school’s latest COVID-19 news and 

updates. Although Duke School looks a little different this year, the heart of who we are remains 

the same. Thank you for your continued support.

Duke School Under the Oak Magazine, Fall 2020

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