Riparian - The Rivers School

Riparian 

T h e R i v e R s s c h o o l • fa l l 2 0 0 9 

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A Web of Entrepreneurs 

Feature Story 

Who needs bricks and mortar, anyway? These recent Rivers graduates prove that all it takes to run 

a successful business is a laptop, a wireless connection, and a healthy dose of resourcefulness... 

Results: 3 of 3 

Music to their Ears 

Matthew Hubball ’97 and Evan Pollock ’97, Founders, BlorpCorp.com 

Sending Jobs to the Auction Block 

Thai Nguyen ’04, CEO/Founder, Jobaphiles.com 

Bucking the Dining Hall Trend 

Timothy Geary ’02, Founder, BostonBucks.com 

2008–2009 Annual Report 

The Rivers School & The Rivers School Conservatory

sPReaD The ReD 

OcTObeR 

10/10 Saturday 

Homecoming 

(see www.rivers.org for details and recap.) 

10/21 Wednesday 

Washington, Dc alumni Reception 

With Tom Olverson, Head of School 

sonoma Restaurant and Wine bar 

223 Pennsylvania avenue, se 

Washington, Dc 

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

10/22 Thursday 

New york city alumni Reception 

With Tom Olverson, Head of School 

Pierre loti café and Wine bar 

53 irving Place 

New York, NY 

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

NOvembeR 

11/2 monday 

Second annual Jarzavek chair affair 

bradley hall at The Rivers school 

Weston, ma 

6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. 

$100 per person, $50 for alumni from 1999–2009 

To benefit the John b. Jarzavek Teaching chair 


veterans Day ceremony 

The macDowell athletic center at The Rivers school 

Weston, ma 

8:15 a.m. 


Pre-Thanksgiving alumni Reception 

vox Populi 

755 boylston street 

boston, ma 

6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. 

NOvembeR – FebRuaRy 

Sundays 

alumni Free Skate (Sunday afternoons) 

No Sticks, No Pucks 

macDowell arena at The Rivers school 

Weston, ma 

12:50 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. 

alumni Hockey (Sunday evenings) 


season Rate $210 (16 games) 

Drop in Rate $25 per game 

7:40 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. 

come To aN eveNT bRiNG a fRieND NeTWoRK 

DecembeR 

12/3 Thursday 

Networking Reception 

Featured Speaker: Timothy Geary ’02 

boston bucks President/Founder 

Willis house at The Rivers school 

342 Winter street 

Weston, ma 

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

12/17–19 Thursday – Saturday 

Holiday basketball Tournament 

The macDowell athletic center 

benson Gymnasium at The Rivers school 

Weston, ma 

Tournament commences, 12/17 

7:00 p.m. Girls, 8:30 p.m. boys 

Tournament finals, 12/19 

2:30 p.m. Girls, 4:30 p.m. boys 

FebRuaRy 

2/28 Sunday 

alumni Hockey Game and Lunch 


Weston, ma 

11:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. 

maRcH 

3/28 Sunday 

Davis museum Tour at Wellesley college 

Led by ben Leeming, History Department chair 

106 central street 

Wellesley, ma 

4:00 p.m. 

aPRiL 

4/15 Thursday 

Networking Reception 

Featured Speaker: Jamie Rice ’85 

Head Hockey coach, babson college 

Willis house at The Rivers school 

342 Winter street 

Weston, ma 

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

4/19 monday 

boston marathon Run for Rivers 

To benefit the ian Greenblatt ’04 scholarship fund 

10:00 a.m. 

may 

5/15 Saturday 

alumni Day 

20 Year Pioneer Reunion 

men’s and Women’s alumni lacrosse Games 

evening Reception and Dinner 

featuring live music by The love Dogs 

The Rivers school 

Weston, ma 

6:00 p.m. 

$45 per person 

$20 per person for the class of 2005 

5/24 monday 

Golf Tournament 

charter oak country club 

15 brent Drive 

hudson, ma 

11:30 a.m. 

$1,500 per foursome, $400 per single player 

To benefit financial aid 

JuNe 

6/8 Tuesday 

alumni Senior breakfast 

berwind building at The Rivers school 

Weston, ma 

8:30 a.m. 

TbD 

Red Sox Game 

(more information to come!) 

TbD 

Pops event 

(more information to come!) 

2009 – 2010 

Please check www.rivers.org for the 

most up-to-date event information. 

RsvP for any of these events to 

christina Grady, Director of alumni 

Programs, at c.grady@rivers.org or 

339-686-2245. 

We hope to see you at 

an event soon!

v o l . XX i v • NumbeR 2 

2009 ISL Lacrosse 

Champions! 

e d i t o r 

christine martin, 

Director of Donor Relations 

c o n t r i b u t o r 

adam conner-simons 

P h o t o g r a P h y 

adam conner-simons, Tom 

Kates, Tim morse, eric Redard 

d e s i g n e r 

David Gerratt, 

NonprofitDesign.com 

P r i n t e r 

signature Printing & consulting, 

brian maranian ’96 

h e a d o f s c h o o l 

Thomas P. olverson 

d i r e c t o r o f d e v e l o P m e n t 

Janice h. hicinbothem 

a s s o c i a t e d i r e c t o r o f 

d e v e l o P m e n t 

marney hupper 

c o o r d i n a t o r o f 

P a r e n t r e l a t i o n s 

amy Dunne 

d i r e c t o r o f 

a l u m n i P r o g r a m s 

christina Grady 

The Rivers School 

333 Winter Street 

Weston, ma 02493-1040 

781-235-9300 

www.rivers.org 

Riparian 

T h e R i v e R s s c h o o l • fa l l 2009 

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Message from Head of School Tom Olverson 

Board of Trustees 

F e A T u R e : 

A Web of entrepreneurs 

F e A T u R e : 

Lifelines to the Future: Financial Aid at Rivers 

Student News 

How They Shared Their Summer Vacations: the RIVeRSblog 

A L u M N I P R O F I L e : 

Catelin Mathers-Suter ’97 Returns to her Roots 

High Spirits at the Round-up for Rivers Rodeo Auction 

2 0 0 8 – 2 0 0 9 A N N u A L R e P O R T O N G I V I N G : 

The Rivers School and The Rivers School Conservatory 

Message from Alumni Council President Matt Tobin ’90 

Alumni Council Welcome New Members 

R e u N I O N 2 0 0 9 : 

Pat Daley ’84, P’13, ’15 Receives the Rivers Cup 

Alumni excellence Award Goes to Jim Lowell ’79, P’15 

Celebrating 50 Years of Varsity Boys’ Lacrosse 

9th Annual Rivers Golf Tournament: a Hole-in-One Success 


Steve Scruton ’84: Driven to Succeed 

Class Notes 


A Q&A with Web Designer eric Grossman ’80 

RipaRian: “One that lives or has property on the bank of a river or lake.” 

The Riparian is published twice a year for The Rivers School alumni, parents, students, faculty, and friends. 

To save on the cost of mailing the Riparian, Rivers has consolidated multiple mailings addressed to the same 

household so that your home will receive only one copy. If you have reason to receive additional copies at 

your address, please call Chris Martin at 781-235-9300, ext. 230.

message from the Head of School 

Giving Back and Moving Forward 

By THOMAS P. OLVeRSON, Head of School 

As the new school year begins, I have been thinking 

about the Rivers educational experience—what it means 

and how it happens. I have realized that its execution 

and success hinge in no small part on two elements: 

what parents and alumni put into the school and what students 

then take from it. 

In our current recession, it is more necessary than ever to recognize 

the significance of parental and alumni contributions to the 

school environment—emotionally, interpersonally, and, yes, financially. 

In this issue Dave Davis ’70 talks about the financial aid fund he 

started and what financial aid means to him. His words speak volumes 

about how essential financial aid is for a vibrant and successful 

independent school environment. One of our strategic goals is 

to become a more diverse community, thereby enriching the entire 

campus with a multiplicity of perspectives. It is through the selfless 

efforts of alumni and parents that we are able to keep the tradition 

of financial aid alive and well at Rivers. 

Beyond the financial support of students, of course, is the student 

experience itself. Reading through this issue of the magazine, 

I feel a renewed sense of the impact our educational values have 

had on students. I hope you will be delighted as I was to read the 

profiles of young alumni who have developed careers as up-andcoming 

web entrepreneurs. Thai Nguyen ’04, for example, founded 

a job-hunting business his first year out of college, and through a 

Term Trustees 

Michael A. Bell 

Benjamin Bloomstone 

Robert e. Buonato ’81 

Louise Cummings ’98 

Karen L. Daniels 

Howard G. Davis ’70 

Robert J. Davis 

T. Christopher Donnelly 

Maria D. Furman 

Clinton P. Harris 

2 3 • • Riparian Riparian • • Fall Fall 2009 

2009 

Board of Trustees 2009–2010 

PReSIDeNT: Roy S. MacDowell, Jr. 

Andrew N. Jaffe ’93 

Daniel A. Kraft 

Frank H. Laukien 

Thomas L. Lyons 

Deborah H. McAneny 

Michael e. McGuinness 

Patricia A. Mordas 

James C. Mullen 

Geoffrey S. Rehnert 

Alan D. Rose, Jr. ’87 

Solomon B. Roth 

Laurie Schoen 

Mark S. Schuster ’72 

Steven J. Snider 

Michael Stansky 

Life Trustees 

David M. Berwind 

Charles C. Carswell 

Joan T. Cave 

Stephen R. Delinsky 

combination of hard work, 

resourcefulness, and ingenuity 

has been able to grow the 

company and attract media 

attention from CNN and 

other national outlets. 

Such examples, I think, 

highlight the importance 

Rivers places on fostering 

a community of forwardthinking 

students. Our goal 

is not to teach exclusively from textbooks or to push reams of 

information onto our pupils; it is to create independent-minded, 

active learners who are comfortable participating in their own 

education. Rivers is not a rote-memorization environment—our 

hope is to instill in students a passion for trying new things, getting 

out of one’s comfort zone, and thinking outside the box. To see 

our young alumni succeeding with new business ventures in these 

uncertain economic times is not only encouraging but a testament 

to the pro-active, can-do spirit of Rivers that each student helps 

embody. Our graduates leave campus with the tools and confidence 

of knowing that they will succeed in whatever profession 

they choose provided that they work hard and live each day 

striving to do their best. 

Peter A. Gaines 

G. Arnold Haynes 

Harriet R. Lewis 

Kenneth P. MacPherson ’42 

edward R. Perry 

Joel B. Sherman 

Frances B. Shifman 

William B. Tyler ‘43 

Joan A. Vaccarino 

Frank S. Waterman III ’41 

Dudley H. Willis 

Honorary Trustees 

of the Corporation 

Joan T. Allison 

Thomas P. Beal, Jr. 

Richard A. Bradley 

Mida van Zuylen Dunn 

Marie Fitzpatrick 

Louis J. Grossman ’67 

Joshua M. Kraft ’85 

Warren M. Little ’51 

Virginia S. MacDowell 

Deborah S. Petri 

Frederick G. 

Pfannenstiehl ’59 

eleanor Pyne Prince 

A. Tozzer Spalding ’62

Search 

Evan Pollock ’97 & 

Matt HuBBall ’97 

Evan Pollock ’97 and Matt Hubball ’97 

may self-effacingly describe themselves 

as “two guys in a basement,” but they 

have ambitions to move up to the penthouse. 

Working as music producers in Colorado, 

they launched a new website called 

BlorpCorp in February that offers original 

instrumental tracks to advertisers and television 

stations ranging from Mercedes 

Benz to MTV. 

It was only a few years ago, in 2006, 

that Pollock, who was attending graduate 

school for digital media at Denver university, 

and Hubball, who was working as an 

ad writer, realized their common aspirations 

of breaking into professional music. 

a Web of Entrepreneurs 

By ADAM CONNeR-SIMONS 

There’s no disputing that the Internet has completely and utterly changed the way 

we live. CeOs are Twittering, newspapers are going online-only, and grandmothers 

are on Facebook. Indeed, businesses have quickly learned that the Web 

is increasingly where people turn for news, information, and products and are 

acting accordingly. 

Rivers is no exception. This past year, the school started its official Riversblog and 

launched its alumni Facebook page and LinkedIn networking group. With an ethos of 

thinking outside the box, Rivers has always embraced new technologies, and so have its students 

and graduates. These three stories highlight recent Rivers alumni who have become 

successful web entrepreneurs. The companies exemplify the new and innovative ways in 

which we use the Internet, and the fact that, even in a recession, there’s always room for creative 

and savvy businesses to prosper. 

Music to Their Ears 

Cognizant of the industry’s struggles, the 

duo dreamed up a plan to start a music-advertising 

business that could compete with 

the big agencies. Within a year, they had 

begun the arduous task of creating original 

stock tracks for an online music library. 

Simultaneously juggling full-time jobs, 

they spent nearly two years working weekends, 

and—after connecting with a web designer 

and a photographer—officially got 

the site up and running this year. 

There are two sides to Blorp Corp: the 

first part is the “stock library,” a musical repository 

filled with tracks organized by 

categories that span both genres (“rock,” 

“hip hop”) and moods (“thoughtful,” 

“quirky.”) Songs can be customized—cut 

down to a 15-second clip, for example, or 

separated out by instrument—and rented 

at different price points depending on 

length and extent of use. The other component 

is Blorp Corp’s custom work—higherbudget 

projects in which Pollock and Hubball 

get involved in the pre-production and 

Fall 2009 • Riparian • 3

Student News 

creative phases. These assignments could 

revolve around bigger-name companies, such 

as TV programs wanting an entire season 

of music. 

While custom work generally yields 

higher financial returns, maintaining a 

stock library allows the musicians to showcase 

their stylistic diversity—from romantic-comedy 

tunes to death-metal headbangers—and 

its ease of use makes it a 

guaranteed revenue stream. “Music houses 

used to produce and mail out giant CD catalogues 

to post-production facilities,” says 

Hubball. “Now you can preview the music, 

download it, and purchase the rights in under 

10 minutes.” 

The duo is a veritable yin and yang of 

music production: Hubball is a formallytrained 

bassist and drummer who played 

in the Rivers big band and jazz combo. Pollock, 

meanwhile, is more involved with the 

engineering side of music production, adding 

color and texture to his partner’s com- 

Search 

tHai nGuyEn ’04 

it was the spring of 2008, and Thai 

Nguyen ’04 was struggling. He and his 

fellow classmates had been spending nearly 

every waking hour hunting for jobs, to no 

avail. He searched sites like Monster.com 

and Craigslist, but was always frustrated 

by the lack of transparency—he could 

never know how many applicants there 

were, how his qualifications stacked up 

against others’, or even if his application 

had been read. 

“I thought to myself, ‘there’s got to be a 

better way,’” Nguyen recalls. “I wanted to 

figure out a job-site system that could be 

beneficial for both students and employers.” 

Connecting with a computer science 

student at Brown university, within months 

Nguyen had done market research, worked 

on a product design and codified his new 

4 5 • Riparian • Fall 2009 

positions. “If you talk to composers, 90 

percent would say that they can’t find anyone 

they can work with musically,” says 

Hubball. “We’re very lucky.” 

The team credits Rivers with encouraging 

their outside-the-box pursuits. In 

school they often worked together on short 

films that then-english teacher Alex Stephens 

’83 would let them screen at allschool 

meetings. “He pretty much gave us 

creative license to do anything we could 

imagine,” says Hubball. “He even starred in 

a Kung Fu flick we made called Enter the 

Red Wing.” 

They also attribute their drive to the intellectual 

environment and other intangibles 

at Rivers. “The school taught us the most 

important thing of all in business: how to 

talk,” Hubball says. “Without a training 

ground like that, it’s very hard to develop 

the necessary networking skills and overall 

confidence it takes to run a company.” 

Blorp Corp has found success even 

Sending Jobs to the Auction Block 

online project—an “eBay for jobs” in which 

users would be able to see how they compared 

to the competition. 

In August of 2008, Jobaphiles.com 

launched to little fanfare. Over the coming 

months, it was slow going. This past February, 

however, the ever-resourceful Nguyen 

wrote up a press release and posted it on 

the newswire, garnering a few mentions on 

the blogosphere. Thanks to a local TV interview, 

coverage quickly picked up steam, 

spawning articles on the websites for CNN 

and the BBC, and even an in-studio appearance 

on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” 

“It was a little bit of luck, a lot of strategy, 

and really great timing,” says Nguyen, 

“and it was great for business.” The site has 

with limited marketing budgets, producing 

targeted, low-cost viral videos and leveraging 

such sites as Facebook and Twitter. 

“The Internet has shaped the way we market,” 

says Pollock. “We could drop five 

grand on some big marketing campaign, or 

spend half as much and be creative with alternative 

marketing practices.” 

Indeed, the Internet has in many ways 

leveled the playing field for modern-day 

Davids like Pollock and Hubball. “We answer 

the phones and make the lunches, and 

yet here we are being approached to do 

TV-show music,” Hubball says. 

The important thing, the duo maintains, 

is for budding entrepreneurs to be 

optimistic and find their niche. “We’re not 

gonna get every Lexus commercial, but if 

you think about how much content there is 

in TV shows and ads, you realize that 

there’s so much need,” Pollock says. “There 

could be 500 companies just like us, and 

we’d all still get work.” ■ 

consistently grown over the past six months, 

with a current user base of 15,000. 

Jobaphiles boasts an elegantly simple 

design—job-seekers create free accounts 

and can then search postings that include 

everything from medical research positions 

to bartending gigs. You can look at 

other applicants’ resumes and cover letters, 

and even see their “salary bids.” The site 

hosts upwards of 200 jobs a week, centered 

primarily in a handful of metropolitan areas 

including Boston, New York, and San 

Francisco. Nguyen estimates that employers 

fill 10 to 15 jobs per week and expects 

that number to increase as the user-base 

grows. 

Future development at Jobaphiles includes 

forays into social networking sites 

like Facebook. Nguyen is especially excited 

about the possibility of establishing Twitter 

accounts from which the site’s incoming

jobs would continuously scroll (“almost 

like a stock ticker,” he says.) 

For Nguyen, entrepreneurship was not 

a career path he expected to pursue. His 

family, immigrants from Vietnam, has a 

history of starting new businesses ranging 

from restaurants to computer service providers, 

but Nguyen didn’t even take an economics 

class until his senior year at Williams. 

Now, he finds himself in the enviable 

position of running around the east Coast 

pitching the site to interested investors. 

The 23-year-old attributes his success 

partly to the freedom afforded by being 

Search 

tiM GEary ’02 

as a finance student at the university of 

Colorado at Boulder, Tim Geary ’02 

was frequently hungry. As a member of the 

school’s hockey team, he quickly realized 

the inconvenient fact that practices often 

took place during dining hall hours. Forced 

to eat off-campus, he found his food expenses 

skyrocket as he paid out-of-pocket 

on top of his college’s dining plan. 

Soon enough, though, he discovered 

Boulder’s Flatiron meal plan, a program involving 

a pre-paid “debit card” that could 

be used at area restaurants. He was struck 

by the simplicity and practicality of the system, 

and upon moving to Boston after 

graduation, realized the potential for the 

idea elsewhere. “Given that the model 

worked in Boulder with 35,000 students,” 

he says, “we figured it would simply take 

off in Boston,” which has more than 

200,000. 

In the fall of 2007, after a year of doing 

market research and meeting with local 

restaurateurs, Geary and business partner 

Marcie Peterson launched Boston Bucks 

with an umbrella of 55 participating food 

establishments in Allston, Cambridge, and 

young and willing to work long hours. His 

dedication also stems from past work experience, 

including a gig during his Rivers 

days as a door-to-door salesman for Cutco 

knives. “Those jobs helped me learn that 

you have to hustle in any business,” he says. 

“It’s the only way to sell your product.” 

Nguyen fondly recalls his time at Rivers, 

where he was involved in founding the tech 

club and doing cross-country. “Teachers 

like Coach Paluseo instilled in me a strong 

work ethic,” he says, “and taught me to 

view my challenges as marathons rather 

than sprints.” 

Bucking the Dining-Hall Trend 

downtown Boston. The program, which offers 

a variety of different plans ranging 

from three meals a week (“The Supplemental”) 

to eighteen (“The Starving Student”), 

is now accepted in a steady stable of 150 locally-owned 

restaurants in the area. 

The program is straight-forward for 

parents and students and a guaranteed 

money-maker for restaurants, Geary states. 

Boston Bucks earns its profit by taking a 

modest cut of students’ purchases, with no 

monthly fees asked of restaurants. “If they 

don’t get business, we don’t get business,” 

he says. “It’s a no-risk proposition.” 

Geary credits the Web with helping 

Boston Bucks find its legs. “[The Internet] 

“Thai was a really bright, hard-working 

kid—a wonderful guy to have on the team,” 

says Paluseo. “He listened carefully and 

was able to see beyond the present to where 

his education could take him in the future. 

He took himself seriously at Rivers as both 

a student and an athlete.” 

For budding business people, Nguyen 

waxes wise on the importance of commitment. 

“ultimately, the most valuable advice 

is to not give up or get discouraged,” he 

says. “everyone dreams of being the next 

Facebook, but a website is always a work in 

progress. It’s constantly changing.” ■ 

is the backbone of what we do,” Geary says. 

“All I need is a laptop and a wireless Internet 

card, and we can run this company.” 

Geary and Peterson coordinate interactive 

marketing efforts through social networking 

sites, utilizing Twitter and offering 

financial incentives to customers who recommend 

the program to friends through 

Facebook. 

The company’s success stems largely 

from referrals, with a customer base of 

1,000 that Geary hopes to increase to 5,000 

by 2010 by working more closely with student 

groups around Boston. The program 

also offers special savings throughout the 

school year, including a rotating 10% discount 

at select restaurants. 

Geary has played a more secondary 

role in the company since becoming president 

of Weld Power, a generator company 

in Auburn. He says that he counts his blessings 

every day that he started Boston Bucks 

when he did. “I don’t know if I would be 

able to launch it in this climate,” he says. 

“During a recession, investors want sure 

things.” 

“With that said,” he continues, with a 

smile, “people will always have to eat.” ■ 


It’s the scenario every admissions officer 

dreads: the promising applicant, 

the impressive scores, the special talent, 

the devoted family—and financial 

need that can’t be met. The student is 

admitted but relegated to financial aid 

limbo, waiting for someone ahead in the 

queue to move up or give up and open the 

acceptance door for them. 

This scenario has been played out with 

increasing frequency—from top-tier colleges, 

down through the independent school 

ranks to the elementary level—as institutions 

and families struggle with the anxiety 

and uncertainty of the economic meltdown. 

And the stakes themselves seem to 

rise higher as the job market shrinks, and 

it’s more critical than ever before to clear 

each educational hurdle, as psychologist 

Rob evans noted in a recent Independent 

School magazine article. 

But there have always been, and amazingly 

there continue to emerge, individuals 

who see beyond their own lives to the big 

picture, individuals who recognize the 

transformative power of education and 

want to provide that lifeline 

to a young person they have 

never even met. 

As the need for financial 

aid increases, Rivers has been 

fortunate to have a relatively 

new avenue of funding that 

Head of School Tom Olverson 

is pursuing with a passion 

and with encouraging success. 

Current use financial aid gifts have increased 

five-fold in the past five years. This proactive 

approach has allowed the school to 

continue to advance its strategic goal of 

diversifying the student body. 

One such benefactor is trustee Dave 


lifelines to the Future: 

Financial aid at rivers 

Dave Davis ’70 

Davis ’70. “When Jack Jarzavek 

retired from teaching in 

2005, I felt it was time to applaud 

and reward Rivers for 

the emphasis it places on the 

arts and the value of art to a 

well rounded education,” said 

Davis. “When I was there in 

the late sixties, Rivers didn’t 

even have an art department. 

It’s my recollection that two classmates and 

I badgered the administration into offering 

an art history class, which Jack taught.” 

“I wanted to reward students who have 

a talent in the arts and who recognize and 

use it,” continued Davis. “I wanted to help 

a student to benefit from what I couldn’t 

have by funding the John B. Jarzavek Arts 

Scholarship.” Over the past four years, Davis 

has had the pleasure and satisfaction of 

watching the student’s talent develop. Now 

he is starting over again, helping another 

upper School student benefit not only 

from the arts at Rivers but from the whole 

experience. “Rivers is unique,” Davis remarked. 

“They have created the environment 

where it is possible for 

the star of the football team to 

also be the lead in the musical. 

That really sums it up for 

me. I am so proud of Rivers 

and that it has come to the 

place it has.” 

Alumni are not alone in 

providing this direct level of 

support. A number of parents 

at Rivers believe so strongly in the value of 

their child’s experience that they are providing 

financial support for needy students 

in addition to their own child’s tuition. “It 

is the ultimate vote of confidence,” says 

Olverson. “It has enabled us to really diver- 

Rick Smith P’10 

sify our community, to reach 

out to individuals who will 

bring not only their strengths 

and abilities but also their history 

and perspective into the 

classroom and the community. 

I can’t begin to thank 

these families for the difference 

they are making.” 

“I was able to attend a 

number of schools because I received financial 

aid,” said Rick Smith P’10. “I believe it 

not only provides opportunities for the students 

on aid, but also enriches the experience 

of all students. I wanted our gift to 

help Tom to expand the program and actually 

increase the availability of aid for Rivers 

students.” 

“i wanted to reward students 

who have a talent in the arts 

and who recognize and use it.” 

Dave Davis ’70 

Of course, even in these rocky times, 

an institution’s endowed scholarships are the 

backbone of its financial aid program. Born 

of the same vision of equal access for all, 

alumni, parents of graduates, friends, and 

families remembering loved ones have all 

set in motion those lifelines for the future. 

Louise Cummings ’98 knows firsthand 

the value of such support. “The most important 

thing for me as a young person at 

Rivers was the exposure I had to different 

people, different ways of life,” said Cummings. 

“For instance, my history teacher 

Patti Carbery had a lot of experience and 

had really seen the world. She recognized 

that as a young black person, I should

know more about African 

American literature and encouraged 

me to do an independent 

study with her. Here 

was a white teacher helping 

me explore my own background. 

In the same way the 

faculty was always supportive 

when we wanted to start 

something, like the Diversity 

Club and the Jazz Choir.” 

“It’s wonderful that someone can help 

you as a 14 or 15 year old, then you become 

successful yourself and later reach back to 

help others,” Cummings continued. “The 

support I got not only helped me at Rivers, 

but helped me get scholarships to Georgetown 

university and then to Howard university 

for law school. Now I’ve started to 

give back through a scholarship for black 

law students interested in entertainment 

and sports law.” 

The late Jim Rogers ’49 and his friend 

Ken Benjamin ’50 often talked about Rivers, 

about what they had learned about life 

and how it had impacted their business careers. 

Shortly before Jim died unexpectedly 

in 2001, he and his wife Demi met with 

Tom Olverson and started the process of 

Louise Cummings ’98 

establishing an endowed financial 

aid fund to enable Rivers 

to attract a balanced student 

population that was socioeconomically 

diverse and rich with 

talent. “Jim felt that Rivers had 

made a significant difference in 

his life, enabling him to learn 

how to study and communicate,” 

said Mrs. Rogers after his 

death. “Both of these attributes contributed 

to his success in life and in business. He felt 

that a scholarship fund could provide other 

young people with the opportunity to be 

educated at The Rivers School.” 

Other donors feel they get as much 

from giving as receiving. “Having a scholarship 

in Ian’s name has been a way for our 

family to create something positive out of 

Ian’s death,” said Stephanie Greenblatt 

about the financial aid fund they set up in 

2004. “The Ian Andrew Greenblatt ’04 

Scholarship Fund insures that Ian will remain 

part of all of us, part of the Rivers 

community, that his love of his school will 

remain alive, and that deserving students 

will continue to receive funding to help 

them realize their educational goals just as 

Ian realized his at Rivers.” 

“In a way it’s been a lifeline for us as 

well as the students who benefit,” Stephanie 

remarked. “It has grown steadily and has 

given us a way to stay connected to Rivers 

which was the focus of Ian’s life for so many 

years. This year’s Run for Rivers as part of 

the Boston Marathon to raise money for 

the fund brought together so many people 

who cared deeply for Ian. What better way 

to honor him and make a difference for a 

student who shares his passion for learning 

and for sports.” 

“it’s wonderful that someone 

can help you as a 14 or 15 

year old, then you become 

successful yourself and later 

reach back to help others.” 

louise cummiNGs ’98 

Clearly the importance to families of 

giving their children an independent school 

education has not diminished, even in 

these difficult times. A recent survey of 

parents by Independent School Management 

(ISM) found faculty caring (4.7 on a 

scale of 5) and academic rigor 

(4.5) outweighed the financial 

concerns (4.0) of families with 

students enrolled in an independent 

school. 

For those with the desire 

and determination but not the 

resources to provide these opportunities 

for their children, 

they are fortunate to have these 

financial lifelines, generously 

offered, no strings attached, to 

help them prepare their students 

for whatever the future 

may hold. 

—Chris Martin 

Run for Rivers 

Team Ian 


Student News 

accolades 

Rivers Student Team Wins business 

competition in R.i. 

In March, Rivers won first place at a business 

competition hosted by Bryant university 

in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Four students 

participated in the first-annual “Bulldog 

Challenge,” in which they were given 

four hours to review a Harvard Business 

School case study and prepare presentations 

for a panel of faculty judges. emily 

Creedon ’09, Tony Duplisea ’09, Rob Margolis 

’09, and Alex Marz ’09 were part of 

the team that emerged victorious in a field 

of 15 high school groups from Massachusetts 

and Rhode Island. 

“Creating the presentation so quickly 

was stressful, but we were able to keep our 

slides concise and persuasive,” said Creedon. 

“Though we had never taken courses 

in business as some competitors had, our 

team was well-prepared with a skill-set that 

proved more valuable than a generic 

knowledge of fancy business jargon.” 

Math teacher Dan McCartney, who advised 

the team at the event, was impressed 

but not surprised by the group’s performance. 

“Throughout the day, I felt I was 

working with a group of graduate students, 

not high school students,” said McCartney. 

“Mademoiselle” by Kat Gourinovitch ’09 


The Rivers Big Band 

at the Mingus 

Competition 

“Their analysis of the case and proposed 

solutions were right on the mark.” 

The arts 

21 Rivers Students earn SiSaL 

art awards 

At this year’s 17th annual Small Independent 

School Arts League (SISAL) competition, 

Rivers again displayed a strong showing, 

earning 21 individual awards that included 

oil painting, sculpture, ceramics, 

and photography. 

The ceremony took place in May at the 

Fenn School in Concord. This year’s competition 

displayed hundreds of works from 

more than 20 independent schools throughout 

Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

Among the 21 awards were six firstplace 

prizes, four second-place prizes, 

three third-place prizes, and eight honorable 

mentions. “The SISAL show is a great 

opportunity for Rivers artists to showcase 

their creative talents in a venue beyond our 

campus,” art department chair David Saul 

said. “It is wonderful that so many of our 

students have been awarded prizes in such 

a diverse array of media.” 

First-place honors were awarded to 

Nina Ciffolillo ’12, Yekaterina Gourinovitch 

’09, Alec Long ’13, Kate Mecke ’13, 

Sarah Sweeney ’10, and Anna Teng ’11. 

Rivers big band Wins Gold at 

State Jazz competition 

In March, the Rivers Big Band won gold at 

the state finals of the Massachusetts Association 

for Jazz education (MAJe) Big 

Band Competition. Casey Berman ’09 received 

the MVP award for the event, earning 

a $1,200 scholarship to the university 

of Massachusetts’ “Jazz in July” program. 

He and fellow Rivers students, Tom Chalmers 

’10 and Henry Fraser ’10, also received 

citations for outstanding musicianship. 

The Big Band performed with other MAJe 

winners in May at the Hatch Shell. 

The awards build upon the band’s honors 

earlier in the year at the Mingus Competition, 

the essential ellington Competition 

and Festival, and the MAJe Senior 

Districts. “The kids have worked so hard 

and done an outstanding job,” says jazz director 

Philippe Crettien. “This has truly 

been an incredible year of successes for us.”

athletics 

Dempsey Presented with bruins 

award by cam Neely 

Jillian Dempsey ’09 never imagined that 

she would one day be standing next to a 

living legend. And yet there she was, at a 

Bruins game at TD Banknorth Garden on 

March 31, on center ice in front of 17,000 

fans, receiving a sports award from none 

other than former Boston Bruins forward 

Cam Neely. 

“They rolled out a red carpet and everything,” 

said Dempsey. “It was such a great 

experience and one that I’ll never forget.” 

Neely presented Dempsey with the 

John Carlton Award, an award given annually 

by the Bruins to outstanding male and 

female student-athletes in eastern Massachusetts 

who combine exceptional hockey 

skills with academic excellence. 

A four-time all-ISL selection, Dempsey 

had 43 goals and 20 assists this season, capping 

off a prolific career in which she totaled 

98 goals and 80 assists. This year the 

ISL MVP helped lead Rivers to a 17-5-3 re- 

Jillian Dempsey ’09 receiving the 

Carlton Award 

The Lacrosse team at Harvard Stadium after winning the ISL Championship. 

cord as well as a #1 seed at the New england 

Preparatory School Athletic Council 

(NePSAC) tournament. 

boys Lax earns Share of iSL Title, 

Key individual awards 

The old saying that there is no “I” in “team” 

could not ring truer than with the Rivers 

boys’ lacrosse team. The combined strength 

of the players helped them clinch a firstplace 

finish in the fiercely competitive Independent 

School League with a 14-1 record. 

While the team plays as “one,” it is 

composed of a talented group of men who 

have won their fair share of accolades on 

an individual basis. 

In May, Steven Manning ’09 was named 

an All-American, and one of 96 players nationwide 

selected to play in the 2009 National 

Senior Showcase which took place in 

June at Bryant university in Rhode Island. 

Jordan Greenfield ’10 and John Fitzgerald 

’10, meanwhile, were both All-ISL selections, 

with Greenfield leading the league in 

scoring with 106 points and Fitzgerald 

leading the league in goals scored with 74. 

“There really aren’t words to express 

how unbelievable these guys were all season,” 

said coach Justin Walker. “They played 

with heart, dedication, and devotion; it shows 

in the results.” 

community 

Service 

For Kopelman 

’09, community 

Service is a Way 

of Life 

For Alexa Kopelman 

’09, doing 

community service 

isn’t something 

that she has 

ever viewed as a 

requirement or a 

Alexa Kopelman ’09 

chore. “I have been 

involved my whole life,” she says. “It’s part 

of my value system to give back to the community.” 

In April Kopelman was honored with 

the 2009 Wellesley Service League Centennial 

Youth Service Award. Kopelman volunteers 

at the Wellness Community, a nonprofit 

organization geared toward cancer 

patients and their families. In particular, 


Student News 

she is deeply involved with the center’s 

Kids Count 2 program in Newton, which 

she attended when she was in elementary 

school. 

As someone who has lost a family 

member to cancer, Kopelman feels a special 

connection to the Kids Count 2 program. 

“I had done other community service 

projects before, but they hadn’t ever 

really hit home for me,” she says. “It became 

clear to me that I wanted to help people 

in the same way that others helped me.” 

Her work at the Wellness Community—which 

has included role-playing exercises 

and other therapeutic activities— 

has helped her recognize her own academic 

interests. “I’ve learned a lot about 

psychology because I’ve been working with 

psychologists and psychiatrists in the field,” 

says Kopelman, who plans to study psychology 

in college. 

The Wellesley Service League award 

comes with a $1,000 scholarship, which 

Kopelman will apply towards her tuition at 

Scripps College in California, where she 

will be attending school in the fall. 


on campus 

Travis Roy Speaks at a Special 

Rivers assembly 

In April former Boston university hockey 

player Travis Roy spoke at a special allschool 

assembly at Rivers. Roy—whose career-ending 

spinal-cord injury inspired 

him to become a motivational speaker and 

advocate for the handicapped—talked about 

the importance of values like pride, respect, 

and setting goals. 

A strong athlete, Roy enrolled at Bu 

with an ice-hockey scholarship in 1995. On 

October 20, a mere eleven seconds into 

the first game of the season against North 

How They Shared Their Summer vacations 

Dakota, the freshman slid headfirst into 

the boards and was instantly paralyzed. 

Rather than dwell on his tragic circumstances, 

Roy returned to school to finish 

his studies, and then decided to devote his 

life to raising awareness of handicapped issues. 

Since 1997 he has been CeO of the 

Travis Roy Foundation, which has distributed 

more than $3 million in grants and 

funds for spinal cord injury research. 

Throughout his many ups and downs 

with the injury and its aftermath, Roy has 

come away from his experiences with a 

strengthened sense of purpose. “In life 

there are times when we choose our challenges 

and other times when they choose 

us,” he said at the assembly, “but it’s what 

we do in the face of those challenges that 

really defines who we are.” 

Assistant Head of School Jim Long said 

that he was overwhelmed by the positive 

feedback about the talk. “His message was 

positive and powerful, but at the same time 

genuine and honest,” Long said. “He was 

talking about these important topics like 

perseverance and integrity in a way that 

wasn’t preachy, and I think that really resonated 

with students.” 

ever wondered what it’s like to make a pilgrimage? Need some Nahuatl vocab to spice up your dinner conversation? Log on to 

the RIVeRSblog at www.rivers.org, and discover how three Rivers teachers spent their summer vacations. They were recipients 

of faculty enrichment grants, which aim to promote the intellectual growth of Rivers teachers through research, education, and 

other independent projects. A complete list of grant recipients this year follows. 

Laura Brewer Arenal National Park, Agricultural Site Visits, earth university, Limon, Costa Rica 

David Burzillo Sumerian Language Study, Department of Near eastern Languages, Harvard 

Patricia Carbery Gombe School of environment and Society, Western Tanzania 

Tim Clark “Paper Clay: A Structural Approach” Course, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen 

Alaina Cotillo el Camino Frances, St. Jean Pied de Port France to Santiago de Compostella, Spain 

Philippe Crettien 2009 Band Director Academy, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York 

Lorinda Garner Jiu Jitsu Lessons, Metrowest Academy, Natick 

Ben Leeming Intensive Course in Older and Modern Nahuatl, Zacatecas, Mexico 

Magdelana Richter 2009 International Saito Conducting Workshop, university of Saskatchewan 

David Saul Intermediate Digital Photography Class, Maine Media Workshop, Rockport 

Jill Viens Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru

alumni Profile 

catelin Mathers-Suter ’97 

returns to her roots 

Visual artist Catelin Mathers- 

Suter’s life has come full circle 

as she joins the Rivers faculty 

this year as an art and Spanish 

teacher. She first immersed herself in the 

visual arts at Rivers as a member of the inaugural 

co-ed seventh grade class in 1991. 

The intervening years often took her abroad 

to paint, study, and teach. 

Catelin jumped at the opportunity last 

fall to return to Rivers while her own former 

art teacher Jeremy Harrison was on a year’s 

sabbatical. She saw the year as a happy detour 

from her career as an artist, but didn’t 

imagine that today she would be juggling 

not only teaching two subjects and advising 

for the yearbook, but also solidifying 

her place in Boston’s art community. 

“To be part of an artists’ community is 

a major goal for me as an artist,” she said. 

“The 18 member artists at Kingston Gallery 

provide great feedback for each other.” Her 

solo show at Kingston this summer was a 

sell-out, adding to her resume of exhibitions 

in the united States and in europe. Her paintings, 

an intriguing blend of broad landscapes 

overlaid with strong architectural elements, 

clearly resonated with her audience. 

“My work explores the relationship between 

environments created by man and 

those that exist in the natural world,” said 

Catelin. “The pieces in my show contemplate 

juxtapositions between the urban and the 

pastoral, the structured and the chaotic, 

the spaces where man and nature coexist 

and collide, and the ways in which they 

influence one another.” 

Ironically, the very process of creating 

her work is a manipulative one. She often 

photographs a rural setting, superimposes 

an architectural design in Photoshop, then 

replicates the resulting montage in oils or 

pen. The very size of her larger paintings— 

one measuring a gigantic 9 x 13 feet–makes 

a statement about the impact man has had, 

and yet the smaller paintings draw you in, 

forcing you to examine up close man’s clash 

with nature. 

Catelin credits Jeremy Harrison with expanding 

her visual horizons by exposing her 

to artists and techniques she had not yet 

encountered. He helped steer her toward 

large-scale paintings and several of the 

charcoal portraits she did at Rivers hang in 

studios in Bradley Hall. She is also quick to 

praise Patti Carbery and other Rivers teachers 

for bolstering her self-confidence and belief 

in her academic and artistic merits. 

In the first of many international ventures, 

Catelin spent six-months of her senior year 

in an American Field Studies program at the 

National High School for the Fine Arts in 

Honduras. Dropped into a Spanish-speaking 

community, she was forced to develop her 

language skills, and language remains a 

passion for her to this day. 

After Rivers, Catelin headed to the Rhode 

Island School of Design for “five years of 

Above: Catelin 

Mathers-Suter ’97 

with Dan Sherman 

’97 at a Rivers 

summer alumni 

event at Kingston 

Gallery 

Left: Lotscape 

Overgrown B 2008, 

graphite on paper, 

34” X 38” 

art boot camp,” as she describes it, doing 

four years in illustration and a fifth year in 

painting for the extra experience. Armed 

with a bachelor’s in fine arts, she went to 

Cuba as a RISD liaison of the Ludwig 

Foundation, an affiliate of the Guggenheim 

and Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan 

that promotes contemporary Cuban artists. 

“From that point on I applied for various 

grants, returned to Cuba several times, and 

worked odd jobs, anything that would allow 

me to be an artist,” Catelin said. She taught 

at the International College of Spain, a secondary 

school in Madrid, before returning 

to school herself in 2005. She earned a master’s 

in fine arts in painting from the Slade 

School of Fine Art in London in 2007. 

Despite her hectic schedule, Catelin’s love 

for the classroom shines through. “I love 

when my students realize ‘wow, I can draw, 

I can do this, this is what I like and why,’” 

she says. “Rivers really focuses on the individual 

in a way that brings out his or her 

individual best, and that’s not the case in 

many other places. It’s truly special here, 

and I’m thrilled to be back.” 


Parent News 

High Spirits, High Bids at the 

Round up for Rivers Rodeo auction 

Decked out in cowboy hats and 

cowboy boots, with yards of 

fringe in between, nearly 400 Rivers 

parents and faculty gathered at sundown 

this spring at the MacDowell Arena 

to lasso the best deals on an amazing 

round-up of auction items, including Sox 

tickets, a Wii or two, and a trip to see the 

Patriots play in London. 

Auction co-chairs Susan Brady, Wendy 

Kraft, and Debbie Seresky organized a 

posse of more than 100 volunteers for the 

evening of friendly competition and hearty 

chow. “Many thanks to all the parents who 

secured the auction items, transformed the 

field house into the Wild West, and manned 

the silent auction tables,” said Amy Dunne, 

Coordinator of Parent Relations. “And a 

very special thanks to the Rivers community 

for donating and purchasing so many 

exciting items.” 

More than $130,000 was raised during 

the silent and live auctions, followed by an 

enthusiastic show of support for the faculty 

as the auctioneer urged the crowd to raise 

their paddles one last time to fund graduate 

programs for the faculty. Nearly $35,000 

David MacBurnie and Tina Kopelman with 

Roy and Ginny MacDowell 


Auction chairs Wendy Kraft, 

Debbie Seresky, and Susan Brady 

was reined in for what faculty member Ben 

Leeming characterized as “an investment 

in your children’s education.” 

“By supporting the continuing education 

of Rivers faculty, you and we, are moving 

The Rivers School closer to embracing 

a very powerful paradigm of education, the 

‘teacher-as-student’ paradigm,” said Ben, 

addressing the audience after dinner. “Here 

are just a few ways my studies have affected 

my students. First, by sharing my experiences 

as an adult learner with them, there 

has evolved a sense of shared mission. Second, 

I’ve developed a much greater empathy 

for my students as a result of going 

back to school. Third, and perhaps most 

importantly, going back to school has reignited 

and intensified my own passion for 

Ann Corcoran, Janet and Ben Howe, 

Dan Corcoran, Susan and Paul Brady 

Susan Brady 

tosses a 

winning bid 

to Deb 

McAneny 

Faculty 

speaker Ben 

Leeming 

learning, for history, for research and writing, 

and for wrestling with big ideas with 

my fellow learners. This passion was and 

remains visible to my students on a daily 

basis. Passion for learning cannot be 

taught, it must be caught.”

Student News 

alumni News 

Message from alumni 

association President 

Matt tobin ’90 

Greetings to all! I am very 

excited to begin my 

term as Alumni Association 

President. I also take great 

pleasure in welcoming our newest 

alumni, the Class of 2009. 

The level of excellence this group 

has put forth should give all 

alumni a sense of pride. We 

look forward to you keeping in 

Matt Tobin ’90 

touch with Rivers and helping 

the alumni experience grow to 

greater heights! 

This year marks the anniversary of a monumental change in 

Rivers’ history. Twenty years ago, Rivers admitted its first female 

students. The class of 1990, celebrating its 20th this May, graduated 

the first girl from Rivers. Since then, Rivers has become a leader in 

private school co-education on many levels. 

This special occasion will be celebrated on May 15th during 

Alumni and Reunion weekend on campus, as we pay special tribute 

to those whom we call the Pioneers. All alumni are invited to 

attend that evening for a festive celebration. There will be a a reception, 

festive dinner, and live band on campus. 

Please look for the alumni calendar of events that was mailed 

to all Alumni in September. Also, look for more modern and cost 

effective ways of receiving invitations. Rivers has active groups on 

Facebook and LinkedIn and will be using these as ways to distribute 

invitations. We also have an e-mail database to communicate 

information. Please be sure to get your updated e-mail and contact 

information to the Development Office so you can receive the 

most up-to-date and important Rivers news. 

Finally, please send in news for the Class Notes section of the 

Riparian. You can do this through your class agent or directly with 

the school. For any alumni questions, feel free to contact Christina 

Grady, Director of Alumni Programs, at c.grady@rivers.org or 339- 

686-2245. 

I look forward to seeing you back on campus! 

Best Regards, 

Matthew Tobin ’90 

Alumni Association President 

alumni council Welcomes 

New members and Student Reps 

Two Rivers alumni were voted to membership on the 

Alumni Council during Reunion 2009 in May. Daniel 

M. Rabinovitz ’82 is a partner in the law firm Michaels 

& Ward LLP. A graduate of union College with a law degree 

from Boston university’s School of Law, Rabinowitz worked at 

several Boston law firms before founding his own in 2006. He 

served on his 25th reunion committee in 2007. 

Ian Meropol ’98, recipient of the Mabardy Prize in 1997, 

played soccer and baseball while at Rivers. He went on to 

graduate from the university of South Carolina and works as 

producer of the Dennis and Callahan Show on WeeI, the 

Sports Radio Network. Ian served on his 10th reunion committee 

in 2008. He will also join the Council’s Golf Committee. 

Three Rivers seniors look forward to serving as liaisons 

between the Alumni Council and Rivers’ students as representatives 

on the Council. Adam Lowenstein comes to the position 

with some familiarity, since dad Jeff ’77 has been a Council 

member for more than two decades. “I’d like to dedicate a 

section of each edition of The Rivers Edge to the Council and 

its many projects,” proposed Adam in his application to the 

Council. Adam is also a member of Red Key and Rivers Givers, 

plays j.v. soccer, and manages the basketball team. 

Shannon McSweeney and Leah Stansky will be spending 

time together not only on the Council, but on the soccer field 

and basketball court as co-captains of both teams this year. In 

addition, Leah is on the Disciplinary Committee and Red Key 

as well as captain of the varsity lacrosse team. 

Shannon McSweeney, Adam Lowenstein, and Leah Stansky 


Daley ’84 is Rivers cup Winner 


r E u n i o n 

Pat Daley’s 25th reunion held more than the usual surprise of seeing what a 

couple of decades or so can do to high school buddies. Not only did he enjoy 

his classmates at dinner with his usual camaraderie and enthusiasm, he was 

joined unexpectedly by his parents and sister, who came to see him receive the 

coveted Rivers Cup award. 

The award came as no surprise to his fellow alumni, however, because the annual 

Rivers Golf Tournament is now the premier alumni fundraising event for financial 

aid due, in no small measure, to the extraordinary generosity and hospitality of Pat 

and his family. Their efforts have had a tremendous impact on the school’s ability to 

offer financial aid to its students. 

The elegant Charter Oak Country Club, owned by the Daleys, has been the site 

of the increasingly popular tournament for the past seven years. Because the Daley 

family has donated the use of the course and dining facilities, the event has been able 

to clear more than $600,000 for financial aid, enabling nearly 40 talented students to 

attend Rivers. 

As a student at Rivers, Pat was a talented athlete, playing varsity football, hockey, 

and, naturally, golf. As a junior he was a member of the hockey team that travelled to 

Japan for a tournament with local high school teams. He went on after Rivers to earn 

a bachelor’s in science at Babson College and is involved in his family’s businesses, 

including Charter Oak. His daughter Ryanne ’13 is in her third year at Rivers, and 

this fall son Patrick Jr. ’15 has joined her as well as cousins Freddy ’12, Luke ’14, and 

Jessica ’16, the children of brother Fred Daley. 

The Alumni Council, the Alumni Association, and the entire Rivers community 

thank Pat for his extraordinary dedication to the school. The tournament has helped 

lead a resurgence of alumni participation and involvement, and in the process has 

changed the lives of many Rivers students. 

Charlie Abrams 

’88, Matt Tobin 

’90, and Greg 

Cahill ’77 

congratulate 

Pat Daley ’84. 

Fred Sherman ’79, Robert Marcus ’79, 

and Chuck Warshaver ’78 

Alex Stephens ’83 (second left) with Dan Head, 

Chris Fuller and Dave Garsh, all Class of 1999 

Former art teacher Eleanor Mahoney 

and Bridget O’Connor ’00 

Head of School 

Tom Olverson 

thanks retiring 

Council President 

Charlie 

Abrams ’88

2 0 0 9 

Mark Rosen, Lindsay McConchie, Rob Yahn, Amy Merk, 

and Beth Grannan, with virtual classmate Mark Szretter, 

all Class of 1994 

The Watermans: John ’69, Frank ’41, and Sturdy ’74 

The class of 1959 at dinner 

alumni excellence award Goes to 

Jim Lowell ’79 

An investment strategist who 

can find a silver lining in 

this economy is a rare breed. 

The 2009 Alumni excellence Award 

recipient, James H. Lowell III, has 

seen plenty of market ups and downs 

during his prolific career and still remains 

bullish on America. Lowell 

was honored at the Reunion dinner 

for his multifaceted career as a columnist, 

publisher, editor, author, 

and poet. He is partner and chief 

investment strategist of Adviser Investments, 

based in Newton, founder 

and chairman of The Rankings Service, editor of Fidelity Investor and 

The ETF Trader, and columnist on Marketwatch, to name just a few of his 

ventures. 

educated at Vassar College, with master’s degrees from both Harvard 

university and Trinity College in Dublin, Lowell is a published poet, a 

former teaching fellow at Harvard university, and former lecturer in the 

Philosophy/Religion Department at Northeastern university College in 

Boston. He has written several books on investing, including the recent 

Investing from Scratch and What Every Fidelity Investor Needs to Know. His 

daughter Jennifer is in the Class of 2015. 

Nominate an alumnus or alumna 

Jim Lowell ’79 receives Alumni 

Excellence Award from Jack Jarzavek 

established in 2001, The Rivers School Alumni excellence Award is 

presented annually by the Alumni Association to members of the 

Rivers community who display extraordinary achievement within 

their career field or through an outstanding commitment to social, political, 

or other volunteer causes. The purpose of the Award is to highlight the 

professional and volunteer achievements of alumni and in so doing inspire 

Rivers students to pursue their passions. 

When nominating a graduate, please include the following information: 

• Name and class year 

• Address, phone number, e-mail address 

• Title, company, or industry 

• List of professional achievements and professional and civic commitments 

• Other information relevant to the candidate’s professional contributions 

Please submit nominations to Marney Hupper at m.hupper@rivers.org. 


alumni News 

celebrating Fifty years of rivers lacrosse 

The years seemed to melt away—the grey hair and creaky knees forgotten—as 

members of the first varsity lacrosse team at Rivers embraced 

each other before the alumni lacrosse game in May. Some gamely took 

to the field, others wisely watched from the sidelines. But the real reason for 

this reunion was the opportunity to reconnect with their beloved coach 

Tommy Thomsen who brought the team into being fifty years ago this spring. 

It was heart-warming to see these grown men line up to thank their old 

coach, as eager as rock fans, and how pleased Tommy was to greet them in return. 

Younger alumni were able to meet their own former coaches, including 

Len Thomsen, Renny Little ’51, Mark Kelly ’71, and Jim Navoni ’70. 

During the commemorative ceremony Director of Athletics Jim McNally 

thanked committee members Dave Garsh ’99, Tom Grover ’67, John Hurwitch 

’59, Renny Little ’51, Todd MacDowell ’99, and Tom Navoni ’78 for their 

help in organizing the day. Len Thomsen, former Rivers lacrosse coach and 

teacher for 25 years, gave a brief history of Rivers lacrosse and alumnus Ned 

Wallroth ’03 brought the audience up to speed about Rivers’ recent lacrosse 

successes. Then everyone craned to find their younger selves during the concluding 

slide show that was culled from decades of archived photos. 

One of the original team members, Dick Drury ’62, commented after the 

event, “Tommy was a second father in many respects and my lacrosse coach 

at Rivers for four years, 1959-1962. He guided me to go to his alma mater, 

Penn, in the fall of 1962. Needless to say, the picture of me with Tommy and 

fellow Rivers and Penn alum Tony Phillips ’89 will have a place of honor in my 

home in Chatham.” (See photo on opposite page.) 

This year’s alumni lacrosse games—men’s and women’s—are scheduled for 

Alumni Day, May 15, 2010. For information, contact Christina Grady at 

c.grady@rivers.org or 339-686-2245. 


2009 

Members of the 

original Lacrosse 

team with coach 

Tommy Thomsen 

(front). Standing 

(l to r): Coach Renny 

Little ’51, Marty 

Traiser, John 

Hurwitch, Geoff 

Naylor, Ed Shifman, 

John Griffin, Eddie 

Downes, Dick Drury, 

and Roger Welch 

Bill Burnham ’67, Coach Len Thomsen, Andrew Flake ’67, 

and Tom Grover ’67 

John Hurwitch ’59 with Peter 

Hurwitch ’65 

Mark Kelly ’71 

and Warren 

Ferguson ’66

Dick Drury ’62, Coach Tommy Thomsen, 

and Tony Phillips ’89 

Ned Wallroth ’03 and Shawn Cryan ’99 

The 50th Anniversary Lacrosse Team 

Congratulations on 50 years of Lacrosse 

Athletic Director 

Jim McNally, 

Head of School 

Tom Olverson, 

Coach Len 

Thomsen, Ned 

Wallroth ’03 

The 2009 ISL Championship 

Lacrosse Team 

On the way to a goal 

Coach Tommy Thomsen at dedication 


Student News 

alumni News 

9th annual rivers Golf 

tournament a Hole-in-one Success 

On one of the few gorgeous days 

in an otherwise dreary golfing 

season, a full field of players— 

alumni, parents, and friends—took to 

the greens at the Charter Oak Country 

Club in Hudson for the 9th annual Rivers 

School Golf Tournament. The event 

raised significant funds for financial aid 

and provided a unique opportunity for 

socializing and reconnecting. Dinner as 

well as live and silent auctions rounded 

out the day, providing a chance to bid 

on donated items ranging from a Bruce 

Springsteen guitar to golf foursomes up 

and down the east Coast. 

The day’s events were orchestrated 

by the Rivers Golf Tournament Committee, 

led by chair Matt Tobin ’90, in 

conjunction with Charter Oak Country 

Club, owned and operated by the Daley 

family (Pat Daley ’84 P’13 and his 

brother Fred P’12 P’14), who generously 

donated the golf course for the day. The 

tournament garnered approximately 

$90,000 for the Alumni Financial Aid 

Fund, which provides tuition assistance 

to qualified Rivers students. Last year, 

the fund helped support four outstanding 

students at Rivers. 

Organizers and participants were 

thrilled by the success of the tournament, 

given the struggling economy. 

“Many thanks to Matt Tobin and the 

Golf Tournament Committee, along 

with the Daley family, our tournament 

sponsor Bill Whittemore ’69, and our 

corporate sponsor Cohn & Dussi and 

Lewis Cohn ’81,” said Director of 

Alumni Programs Christina Grady. 

“People really came out in full force and 

supported the school and all that it does 

for financial aid,” she said. “It was great 

to see so many faces—both new and 

old—at the event.” 


2009 

Steve Sisselman, Ben Bloomstone, Tony 

Solomons, and Michael Stansky 

Cary Corkin ’69 relaxes with daughter Jessica, 

son Matthew (rear right) and golf guests. 

Tournament 

host Pat 

Daley ’84 

with John 

Carlin ’83 

The Shoot Out Gang 

Tournament Chair Matt Tobin ’90 with tournament 

winners Howard Leeder ’84, Clem Lamarre, Tom 

McLaughlin, and Rand Alexander (absent from 

photo) 

Kate 

McCourt ’98 

and Jeff 

Lowenstein 

’77 

Lou Franchi ’82, Matt Carlin ’84, John Carlin ’83, 

Mike Zafiropoulos ’82, Bill Stewart ’85, Dan 

Rabinovitz ’82 

Mark Pasculano 

with shoot out 

winner Steve 

Mecke

Student News 

alumni Profile 

Steve Scruton ’84: Driven to Succeed 

by ADAM CONNeR-SIMONS 

As trite as the “work hard, play 

hard” mantra may sound, Steve 

Scruton ’84 undeniably embodies 

the principle in everything he does. He has 

run three successful marketing businesses, 

including, most recently, software company 

Direxxis, Inc, for which he serves as 

president and CeO. Before Direxxis, Scruton 

headed Marketing Information & 

Technology, Inc., which he transformed in 

the span of 36 months from a two-person 

office into a $30 million database-marketing 

leader with 160 employees. He has 

more than 15 years’ experience in direct 

marketing, advising some of the largest 

companies in the world, from WellsFargo 

and Charles Schwab to HomeDepot and 

the Veterinary Clinics of America. 

And in his free time? The Needham native 

has been known to race motorcycles 

and cars on professional circuits all over 

the world—and that’s not counting his 

brief stint as a ski racer. “I guess you could 

say I have a competitive streak,” he says, 

reflecting on his intense occupational and 

recreational interests. “Both are about understanding 

a goal, putting your head down 

and doing it.” 

Scruton exhibited an entrepreneurial 

bent from an early age. Growing up in Needham, 

he remembers going to golf courses 

and selling golf balls back to golfers. “I had 

kids working for me, going into the ponds 

at night,” he says with a laugh. He was 

eleven years old at the time. 

Gravitating towards business in high 

school and then as a marketing/finance 

double-major at Northeastern university, 

Scruton got his first job working for Transunion 

Insurance in Chicago. His focus on 

marketing came about more or less by happenstance: 

looking through the credit values 

that the company was receiving from 

customers, he “realized the opportunity of 

Steve Scruton ’84 

this great data resource for marketing.” 

Since then, he’s found tremendous success 

with his three businesses, which have 

included Direxxis, MITI, and financial analytics 

company Sigma Analytics (which 

he sold in 2002). 

While he recognizes the greater freedom 

allowed by starting your own company, 

he also notes that there’s then more 

pressure to be profitable. “There’s a lot of 

legwork when it’s completely self-funded,” 

he says of Direxxis. “You don’t have money 

to fall back on. You’ve got to make it work.” 

As busy as he has been with his marketing 

pursuits, he has until recently been 

able to find time to pursue racing on a professional 

level. For many years he raced 

Motocross, which involves riding dirt-bikes 

on off-road circuits, and eventually became 

good enough to receive sponsorship for 

free gear (not to mention “a few paychecks 

here and there.”) He also has raced karts in 

the Rotax Series division, speeding around 

tracks going over 110 mph at events all 

over the country. Since Direxxis has gotten 

up and running, however, he’s found it increasingly 

difficult to continue and has put 

his racing career on hold. 

Such success in two vastly different yet 

undeniably high-stakes fields begs the 

(punny) question: what drives Steve Scruton? 

“Competition,” he says, matter-of-factly. 

“I am addicted to competing in anything, 

and I’m never satisfied until I’ve seen it 

through.” 

Rivers played no small part in teaching 

him the importance of hard work. “I developed 

a process of learning, where being a 

student really almost became a job,” he 

says, citing art teacher Jack Jarzavek and 

english teacher Harper Follansbee as 

strong influences. “Rivers was as demanding 

as many colleges, and taught me to always 

put in the effort.” 

As for his professional advice on aspiring 

business people, he cautions pragmatism 

in a world of half-baked ideas. “There 

are people who have a lot of passion, but 

their ideas are not practical,” he says. 

“You’ve got to make sure it’s a viable busi- 

“i’m addicted to 

competing in anything 

and i’m never satisfied 

until i’ve seen it through.” 

sTeve scRuToN ’84 

ness, and not just a great piece of technology. 

Is it really going to help consumers?” 

Scruton says that his time on the racetrack 

has in many ways informed his approach 

to marketing. “It’s never easy and 

it’s not a sprint,” he says of his profession. 

“every business is a marathon, and you 

have to get used to taking three steps back 

and one step forward.” 


Student News 

alumni News 

class notes 

c L a S S O F 1 9 3 3 

F. Gorham brigham was honored with 

a lifetime achievement award in the 

recent Boston Business Journal’s “cfo of 

the Year” supplement. brigham, who has 

worked in financial services for more 

than 70 years, was praised by the journal 

for “the legendary professional and mentoring 

relationships [he built] over the 

lunch table.” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 4 0 

We recently received an autobiographical 

sketch of Link Jewett. highlights include: 

45-year resident with wife Trudy of 

Darien, cT and 35 year partner at North 

american Realty advisory services, a 

manhattan-based consulting firm, specializing 

in the adaptive reuse of closed 

industrial plants and military bases nationwide. 

after serving in the army signal 

corps in World War ii, link worked on 

the development of cryogenic technology 

and the world’s first ship for ocean 

transport of liquefied natural gas (lNG). 

“by land, by yachts, by little boats, by 

calling all agents 

Rivers is reviving the time-honored 

tradition of the class agent! While 

the Alumni Office has already recruited 

a number of intrepid souls 

for the job, they are still anxious to 

assign at least one person to each 

class. So take the plunge. Be the first 

to learn about your classmate’s new 

job, hear about their latest travels, 

see that cute new baby photo, and 

help with the Annual Fund. If interested, 

please contact Christina 

Grady at c.grady@rivers.org or 339- 

686-2245. 


ships, and by air we’ve voyaged in colorful 

places around the world and here in 

the u.s.” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 5 0 

John Rooney reminisced, “i often think 

of the wonderful teachers i had back 

then: Prince, chute, ellis, Gallagher, and 

lydon.” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 5 1 

Renny Little commented on the 50th anniversary 

of Rivers lacrosse, “it seems like 

just yesterday we were practicing on the 

half field quaking bog behind the lower 

school off hammond street.” 

bob Stimpson has retired and recently 

relocated to south Yarmouth, ma from 

fort myers, fl. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 6 1 

John Griffin is currently serving as vice 

chairman of the barnstable municipal 

airport commission. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 6 5 

Peter Hurwitch e-mailed that he is still 

working as a retail consultant for Gordan 

brothers. “anne and i now have five 

grandkids. lisa, class of 1993, just had 

her second daughter.” 

Class of 1959: Front 

(l to r): Buzz Vincola, 

Wayne Branch, 

Fred Pfannenstiehl. 

Rear (l to r): Cotty 

Saltonstall, Ted 

Prince, Mark 

Hoffman and 

John Hurwitch 

Cary Corkin and John Waterman, 

both Class of 1969 

Nick miller writes, “it is always a pleasure 

to receive e-mails from Rivers. i have 

many strong memories of Rivers and attending 

your school for five years. several 

families were good to me during this 

time, namely the Tom and James swaim 

family, along with several teachers, Robert 

shaw and mr. shearer. having been a 

“Westerner” for the past 50 years or so, i 

still have good reflections of my youth by 

being part of the Rivers tradition. Keep 

sending your mail. Thanks for the memories.” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 6 7 

bill burnham writes, “i am now at boston 

Private bank & Trust co. our three oldest 

are now out on their own; daughter bates 

is married and living in Palo alto, ca, 

daughter cameron is living in the North 

end, and son shore in the south end. our 

daughter hadley is a junior at Duxbury 

high school and looking to sail in college. 

elizabeth and i are busy training 

two giant-breed leonberger puppies.”

Student News 

alumni News 

andrew Flake is still living on martha’s 

vineyard with his wife of 28 years and 

three college daughters. “check out 

andrewaflakeinc.com. olympic distance 

triathlons continue to be a commitment.” 

Tom Grover is greatly enjoying teaching 

at the massachusetts Department of Youth 

services. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 7 4 

John Neilson wrote, “it was great to visit 

Rivers on alumni Day in may and see Jack 

Jarzavek, bob borzakian, Joel Holzwasser, 

bob Tremblay, Larry berger, and 

Nick vantine. What a difference 35 years 

make, i didn’t recognize much when i 

drove in.” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 7 6 

monty Lovejoy is the Global sales Director 

in the manufacturing sector for aecom 

environment. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 7 7 

barry crowley writes, “our first grandson, 

liam callahan, was born on mothers’ 

Day, may 10, 2009. his parents, casey and 

James callahan, are both currently serving 

in the army and are stationed at Wal- 

ter Reid hospital.” Jeffrey Lowenstein comments, “my son 

adam, class of 2010, is interested in 

bringing back “Rivers Radio” to the community 

for his senior project. With the assistance 

of David Tierney of the Rivers 

conservatory and support from Jonathan 

Robinson, Director of Technology, 

broadcasting at The Rivers school could 

once again be a reality. This time around 

the broadcast would be streamed or 

available on demand as a podcast at 

www.rivers.org. The possibilities are endless: 

concerts from The Rivers school 

conservatory, daily news from the Rivers 

campus, alumni reports from colleges 

and the business world, readings from 

The current, and even a sports talk show 

Class of 1974: Sturdy Waterman, Joel 

Holzwasser, Nick Vantine, David Bradley 

Class of 1984: Front 

(l to r): Jeff Tarlin, 

Richard Fischer, 

Pat Daley, Howard 

Leeder. Rear (l to r): 

Paul Olson, Michael 

Tofias, Marc 

Johnson, Michael 

Jacobs, Gary Todd, 

Peter Mitchell 

could all be available for the world to 

hear. Please be on the lookout for future 

Class of 1979: (l to r) 

Walter Krawczyk, 

Howard Alberts, 

Barry Marson, Jim 

Lowell, Fred Sherman, 

Jon Silverman 

information concerning the Rivers Radio 

alumni. Thank you.” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 7 8 

Glenn Dowgiallo writes: “my wife cheryl 

and i eloped in may 2007. my son, matt, is 

a freshman at le moyne college in syracuse, 

NY. he is in my old stomping 

grounds as i graduated syracuse university 

in ‘83.” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 8 2 

Dan Rabinovitz wrote, “i have recently 

been devoting most of my time to representing 

Lawrence Ford, helping him 

navigate through the multiple book and 

movie offers that are coming his way as a 

result of the Washington Post story entitled 

‘The shaman of Wall street.’” 


Student News 

alumni News 

Q&a with Web Design 

entrepreneur eric Grossman ’80 

Conducted by ADAM CONNeR-SIMONS 

Q. How did you first get involved in web site design? 

A. I was working for a computer repair company back in 1998 

and asked the owner, “where do you see the future of computers 

going?” He said it would be in database development, while 

I thought it would be with web site development. It actually ended up being both. I saw 

a need for web sites and there were very few web developers at the time. Because of that, 

I decided to go with basic html web site development. 

Q. What was it like to start your own business? 

A. It was rather spontaneous, as I saw an opportunity on the horizon and wanted to move 

quickly to capture it. My wife works in real estate, so I received a lot of business from her 

clients that kept me going, and then clients would refer me to their people, and so on and 

so on. I didn’t have to market my services with any ads or promotions because it was such 

a hot trend. 

Q. What is the appeal of entrepreneurship for you? 

A. To create something out of nothing—like taking a seedling and watching it grow into 

something bigger. Although the hours are longer and the stress is greater than many regular 

full-time jobs, the potential reward is more satisfying, and it’s great to be able to 

work different hours to fit in with my personal schedule to achieve a good balance 

between work and play. 

Q. What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly in light of the 

recession? 

A. With this economy you are testing yourself as an individual in terms of how thick your 

skin is. As my father said to me years ago, “If it’s too hot, then get out of the kitchen.” 

With the web design business I caught a good economic wave to surf on, and business 

and profit came pretty easily and quickly. With this economy the waves are few and far 

between, so the challenge is much greater, but that’s okay if you have the determination 

to be successful. 

Q. How did you transition from your web site development company to your current 

position at Engel & Voelkers on the Cape? 

A. A few years ago, I decided to get my real estate license and join my wife in growing our 

real estate business. We purchased the franchise license for engel & Voelkers in Osterville, 

Cape Cod, a company with worldwide brand recognition in the high-end real estate 

market. I developed and marketed the website for the business. The concept of an 

e-buyer for real estate was virtually an unknown then and the local competition felt it 

was just a fad that buyers were going through. After all, who in their right mind would 

buy a house just by looking at pictures of it? 

Q. How did your experience at Rivers help spur your interest in entrepreneurship? 

A. I appreciated the spirit of the teachers supporting us 110 percent. As I reflect back 

now, I realize that it was the support from teachers that really helped spark the fire in me 

to pursue my own business. 


Chris von Rumohr ’89 with Niall Carney ’89 

and his wife Gretchen 

c L a S S O F 1 9 8 4 

Nick Zafiropoulos has been practicing 

orthodontics in cape cod for the past 14 

years. he enjoys living on the cape with 

his wife, marliese, and their three year old 

son, Payi. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 8 7 

manny Planchart writes, “my little baby 

antonella Planchart Daza is now 18 

months old!” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 8 8 

John Stimpson is in sales and marketing 

at a hedge fund in New York city. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 9 1 

carolyn Kavanagh Gaither e-mailed, 

“2009 has been a big year for us. in march, 

my family and i relocated back to houston, 

TX after 2 1/2 amazing years in melbourne, 

australia. Words cannot express 

how difficult it was for us to leave our 

“overseas family” but thankfully we’ve returned 

to even more friends and family in 

the u.s. i’ve also returned to work for exxonmobil 

corporation after an extended 

leave of absence. so far it’s going great 

(although my four year old and two year 

old beg to differ!) hope to see everyone 

next time i am back east!” 

Jeremy Levine e-mailed Jack Jarzavek, 

“so great to hear from you; what a surprise 

seeing your name pop-up in my inbox. 

i was married on march 7th to lisa

Student News 

alumni News 

Lisa Raftery ’93 and baby Audrey at 3 months 

Class of 1994: Front (l ro r): Beth Reid 

Grannan, Amy Kelleher Merk, Sara Masucci, 

Lindsay McConchie. Rear (l to r): Mark 

Rosen, John Gaines, Robb Yahn. 

Russo with a nice, long honeymoon to 

Thailand and the maldives. i am still in 

NYc where i’m currently the vice-president 

of sales and associate publisher of 

billboard/billboard.com. Prior to that i 

was the associate publisher at men’s 

Journal. i live downtown in the lower 

east side so there are lots of galleries near 

me and blocks away in soho.” 

c L a S S O F 1 9 9 2 

carl Robinson welcomed son, sawyer 

Robinson, on september 2, 2009. 

Class of 1999: Front (l to r): Lindsay Rich, Neil Luke, Rebecca Roblin, Georgia Butler, Elissa 

Hintlian, Ryan Gauthier, Kim Bilello. Rear (l to r): Ben Henry, Dave Lyons, Scott Prieur, Dave 

Garsh, Dan Head, Todd MacDowell, Aaron Gauthier, Chris Fuller, Andie Farro, Nicky Shifman, 

Greg Kadetsky, Dave Sneider, Aislynn Rodeghiero, Esme Williams. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 9 4 

brendon bates is teaching writing and 

math at the carroll school in lincoln 

and living in maynard. he is in a program 

at lesley college to receive a masters 

Degree. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 9 5 

Sam Kobrick e-mailed, “hey, everyone! 

hope this e-mail finds you all doing well. 

i just wanted to share some exciting news 

with you all, which is that i am engaged! 

sean proposed while were away on vacation 

last week. cheers!” 

Dan Zibel e-mailed alex stephens, “hey! 

it’s been a long time, but i was back in 

boston a few weeks ago, found myself 

near Rivers, and took a drive on through. 

i barely recognized the place. amazing 

the amount of construction that’s happened 

since the last time i popped on 

through. and then i got an e-mail about 

my 15th (yikes...) reunion. all is well with 

me. chrissie and i are still living in Washington, 

D.c. i’m working as a lawyer at a 

Rebecca and John Cyr ’99 

small, union-side labor/litigation firm 

called bredhoff & Kaiser. We represent 

labor unions in all sorts of matters, from 

internal issues to union/management 

struggles. more importantly, we had a 

baby boy benjamin a few months ago. 

my firm actually gives six weeks of paid 

paternity leave—a phenomenal perk. 

hope all is well.” 


Student News 

alumni News 

c L a S S O F 1 9 9 8 

class agents: Spencer Godfrey at spencer.godfrey.1@bc.edu 

and Kate mccourt 

at mccourtk@gmail.com. 

c L a S S O F 1 9 9 9 

class agents: Jeff berman at J.berman@ 

mac.com and chris Fuller at chrisfuller@ 

ymail.com. 

John cyr and Rebecca serrell were married 

in Rebecca’s hometown in Knoxville 

on may 29. brad Feuling and matthew 

cohen were groomsmen. after a honeymoon 

to st. martin, f.W.i., the couple is 

now living in brooklyn, N.Y. John runs a 

custom photography lab in brooklyn 

while completing his mfa in photography 

at the school of visual arts in New 

York. Rebecca is a dancer and performs 

with New York city based dance com- 

panies. 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 1 

class agent: carolyn bass at carolyn. 

bass@alumni.upenn.edu. 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 2 

class agents: Nick Petri at nicholas. 

petri@gmail.com, michelle Shemin at 

michelle.shemin@gmail.com, and Liz Weyman 

at Weymane@bc.edu. 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 3 

class agent: Katie Neff at neff.katherine@gmail.com. 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 4 

class agent: maggie Petri at maggiepetri@gmail.com. 

maggie is working in consulting 

in D.c. and loving it! 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 5 

class agents: amanda chace at chace. 

amanda@gmail.com and Rachel Gorman 

at gorma20r@mtholyoke.edu. 

Kelsey clark was the recipient of the “intellectual 

leader” award of her Yale resi- 


Class of 2004: Front (l to r): Jake Olin, Dave Hill, Annie Eisenhart, Rich Shanfeld, Jenny 

Grabler, Will Harris, Jon Fainberg. Rear (l to r): Liz Schuster, Jack Maloney, Jemeo Goso, 

Maggie Petri, Mike Swersky, Justin Shaw, Griff Nash, Cliff Nash. 

dential house, won a major english prize, 

and was elected to Phi beta Kappa. 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 6 

class agent: Derek Stenquist at Derek. 

s.stenquist@google.com and Scott barchard 

at s.barchard@gmail.com. Scott is 

a sophomore at Tufts university. 

billy clark will graduate from uvm a semester 

early and is planning to attend 

law school. 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 7 

mark Goodrich played on the second 

line midfield in eight games this year 

with the John hopkins lacrosse team. he 

made the first point of his career with an 

assist against North carolina and added 

his first career goal in a victory over Towson. 

Johns hopkins was ranked 8th this 

year after posting a 10-5 record and advanced 

to the Ncaa Quarterfinal before 

they were eliminated by top-seeded virginia. 

mark is majoring in political science. 

his mother wrote, “mark loved his time at 

Rivers and would have loved to have 

been able to celebrate the 50th anniversary 

with everyone.” 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 8 

Lindsay bloom e-mailed, “i’m happily attending 

George Washington university 

where i’m the education chair of Kappa 

Kappa Gamma. i’m serving as a tutor 

in the centro Nia program, and i host 

Real Time with Luis and Lex on the GW Tv 

station.” 

c L a S S O F 2 0 0 9 

class agents: Kat Gourinovitch at yig2@ 

georgetown.edu, becca Nichols at ran2@ 

williams.edu, and Liza Warshaver at 

l.warshaver@comcast.net. 

i N m e m O R i a m 

Leicester R. Potter ’35, July 2009 

James D. Hoftyzer ’48, July 20, 2009 

David W. Laurie ’55, august 10, 2009 

Jeffrey H. Grayson, ’67, 

september 3, 2009 

Leah breitstein’98, august 28, 2009

alumni Events 

Jack Jarzavek with Spring Networking guest 

speaker Dan McCusker ’74, aka Dan Justin of 

Magic 106.7 

Ready for their half-marathon Run for Rivers at the 

Boston Marathon 

Alumni Hockey Game 2009 

Alumni Senior Breakfast 

Kate McCourt, Lauren Mirel, and 

Brooke Hegarty, all Class of ’98, 

at the summer alumni event at 

Catelin Mather-Suter’s art 

exhibition at Kingston Gallery. 

RIVeRS HAS ARRIVeD ONLINe! 

Pasta Dinner before the Run for Rivers 

at the Boston Marathon 

Check out Rivers’ new FaCeBOOK and Linkedin pages to stay up-to-date on everything Rivers. 

Find your classmates, see what’s coming up on the calendar, R.S.V.P. to an event. 


The Rivers School 

333 Winter Street 

Weston, MA 02493-1040 

address service Requested 

Rivers admits academically qualified students of any 

race, religion, sex, disability, or national origin to all the 

rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally 

available to its students. Rivers does not discriminate 

on the basis of race, religion, sex, disability, color, ethnic, 

or national origin in our admissions policies, educational 

policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or 

other school-administered programs. 

Please notify us if your phone number, mailing address or e-mail address changes so that Rivers can better keep 

in touch with you and your family. Contact Brendan Flemming at 339-686-2234 or b.flemming@rivers.org. 

Please join us for the Second annual 

Jarzavek 

Chair affair 

RSvP by October 23 

to christina Grady 

at c.grady@rivers.org 

or 339-686-2245 

ReCePTION WITH 

aLUMni CHeFs and ResTaURaTeURs 

FeATuRING 

Josh Huggard ’94 of Upper Crust pizzeria and 

Damian de Magistris ’97 of dante and il Casale 

with a wine tasting, auction, 

and MINI car raffle 

MONDAY, NOVeMBeR 2, 2009 

6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. 

BRADLeY HALL at THe RIVeRS SCHOOL 

333 Winter Street, Weston, MA 

Non-Profit 

Organization 

u.S. Postage 

PAID 

Boston MA 

Permit No. 10 

$100 per ticket, $50 for Classes 1999 to 2009 

$100 per raffle ticket for MINI Cooper, max of 350 tickets to be sold 

All proceeds benefit the John B. Jarzavek Teaching Chair at Rivers.

Riparian - The Rivers School

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