Cushing Today - Winter 2023

Cushing

Cushing Academy exists for students and develops curious, creative, and confident learners and leaders.

Cushing Today is a publication of Cushing Academy’s Office of Marketing + Communications.

Head of School

Dr. Randy R. Bertin P’21, ’22, ’24, ’25

Associate Head of School Catherine Pollock

Director of Marketing + Communications Christian Housh

Director of Advancement Greg Pollard

Magazine Design Good Design, LLC gooddesignusa.com

Contributing Writers + Editors

Dr. Randy R. Bertin P’21, ’22, ’24, ’25

Jennifer Cronin P’20, ’22, ’24 Christian Housh Amy Logan Christine Foster

Photography Philip Wexler P’19 Ed Collier Tom Kates

Cushing Today welcomes your class notes, photography, story ideas, and comments. Please send them to communications@cushing.org, call (978) 827-7000, or mail to:

Communications Office

Cushing Academy 39 School Street Ashburnham, MA 01430

ON THE COVER

Catch that selfie!

Graduates Ava Doyle ’22 and Ben Ellis ’22 snap their first photo as Cushing alumni.

Certain parts of this magazine link to extra content including photos, videos, and our website. Look for QR codes and links to explore more.

FROM

The Next Generation

I

PREPARING THE OF WOMEN LEADERS

n 1865, the idea of establishing a coeducational boarding school was not just progressive, it was radical. From its founding, Cushing Academy has always been coeducational — a unique and trailblazing element of our school that is woven into the fabric not only of our charter, but also of our community.This issue of Cushing Today celebrates the success and leadership of the young women who have gone through the halls of the Academy. While the journeys of Helen Frame Peters ’66, a pioneer in using quantitative methods for investing, Babs Marrone ’70, a senior scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Maya Rogers ’96, a tech CEO, and Rachel Sommers ’07, a cosmetics entrepreneur, are all unique, you’ll find that their stories share many common elements. Despite sometimes finding themselves as the only woman in a room full of men, these alumnae have made their mark — making sure they were seen, known, and heard — and continue to break ground for a new generation of women leaders.

focused around the arts and STEAM. You can see it in our young leaders everywhere on campus — from Lily Stone ’22, a co-student body president and class of 2022 valedictorian, to Sara Moeller ’23, who, as the NEPSAC player of the year, led our softball team to an undefeated season. Our girls are not only finding success today, but also setting themselves up for a foundation of success in the future.

As we enter what we hope is the tail end of the pandemic, I am happy to report that Cushing continues to thrive. We have posted a third

CUSHING TODAY 2

Today publication. The goal of the redesign is not just to share the stories of Cushing Academy, but hopefully to help transport you back to Ashburnham. I hope as you flip through the pages, you feel like you are back on campus. We hope to see you here soon.

All my best, Randy R. Bertin, Ed.D. Head of School

At Cushing, we continue to be committed to building a foundation of success for girls…. You can see it in our young leaders everywhere on campus.”

Cushing Moments

MUSICAL TRAVELS THROUGH TIME — AND LIFE

“Now. Here. This.” Becomes an Ensemble Production

When you are a theatre teacher, adaptation is the name of the game. On the heels of COVID disruption and the loss of many graduating performers, Performing Arts

Chair Julia Ohm had her eye on a small Winter Musical written for four characters. Then nearly two dozen Cushing students expressed interest in participating.

“We needed to do a musical with very strange connections, not typical love interests, not typical ingénues, not typical sub-characters,” Ohm says. “We didn’t have the structure for that, so we needed a large ensemble show where everyone was pretty much equal and could deliver a strong unity within the production.”

So, Ohm adapted “Now. Here. This,” originally a four-person show, into a 22-member cast ensemble. The unusual, quirky musical is filled with vignettes about what it means to be a tween and then a teenager and then a grown-up. Set in a natural history museum, the show follows friends through exhibits as they explore all aspects of life, traveling through different eras.

Some of the biggest fans of the show were older audience members who appreciated throwback references (remember Guess jeans?) to the 1970s and ’80s. “There were audience members who really loved it — thought it was the best musical we have ever done,” Ohm says. “I think those who liked it the most were in midlife or older because they could relate to that period of time when they were teenagers.”

Mark one in the win column for making an adaptation great!

Gold Key Winner

CUSHING ARTISTS RECEIVE NATIONAL RECOGNITION

An evocative collage painting by Eunsoo Kim ’22, “Burning,” won a Gold Key and coveted National Silver Medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

That was just one of the raft of prizes Cushing students once again brought home from the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens. In 2022, Cushing visual artists received 33 awards: 4 Gold Keys, 11 Silver Keys, and 18 Honorable Mentions.

SCAN ME! Check out more Cushing artwork in last year’s annual art magazine.

Who Am I?

> I have been at Cushing in some ways since the start (157 years and counting!), but I am also just an adolescent of 17.

> I am both no one and also half of everyone.

> I was built with people’s hands, but also with their hearts.

> I was made by eight people, but also created by a man with great vision and by many generations since.

> I was once compared to the 1930s movie star Ginger Rogers. It was said that she did everything her partner Fred Astaire did, only she did it backwards and in high heels.

> There is another like me, but I am also unique unto myself.

“Wildly

Successful” Day of Giving

PENGUINS BLOW PAST EVERY GOAL

Agift for each and every Cushing student? A total of 385 donors in 1865 minutes? Was that even possible?

The answer — when you have a crew of Penguins in your court — was a resounding YES! Cushing’s faithful blew past every goal on this spring’s Day of Giving, now held annually on April 25, which coincides with World Penguin Day. Alumni, parents, and friends were urged on by Cushing icons like 26-year veteran teacher David Bennett, who declared in a video that “climbing the bell tower is really rough, but giving to Cushing is easy” as he scaled the campus landmark. Likewise, foreign language teacher Catalina Reinoso encouraged giving in both English and Spanish, as students taught her to dance. And Colleen “Mama” Fay donned skates and took to the ice, learning to stop shots.

“This is GREAT!” wrote one Cushing friend on Facebook. “Colleen is so funny, can’t wait to see what HOCKEY video she has coming next year…you really made donating fun this year!”

The robust enthusiasm for Cushing was evident as friends jumped in to create challenges to encourage their fellow Penguins to give.

In the end it was one of the most impactful philanthropic events in the Academy’s history. It was “wildly successful,” says Director of Advancement Greg Pollard. “A total of 446 donors gave $269,904 to support Cushing.”

SCAN ME!

See Cushing’s 2022 Day of Giving videos.

“Cushing Character” Retires A Quintessential

SUPER SCIENCE TEACHER DAVID BENNETT KNOWN FOR 26 YEARS OF WRY HUMOR

David Bennett P’09, ’13, had had enough. The longtime Cushing science teacher had been at the Academy for about a decade when he stood up for the first time to make an announcement in assembly. Several students — using trays swiped from the cafeteria as sleds — had close calls, veering right in front of his big station wagon as he navigated down School Street. He felt it was time to make a public service announcement. And what he said was classically David Bennett:

“I announced that students should not become hood ornaments,” Bennett remembers.

That dr y, witty sense of humor was what made Mr. Bennett — and his announcements — legendary at Cushing. Bennett retired last spring after 26 years at Cushing, having impacted countless students. In recognition of this, he was named an honorary member of the Class of ’22 at graduation.

He first arrived here in 1996. At the time, he was working in electronics and he and his wife had two young children. “My wife (Lyn) put an arm around me and said, ‘You’ve got to get a real job,’” Bennett remembers.

Cushing had an opening for a science teacher. Bennett had a bachelor’s degree in biology from Syracuse University, making it ideal. Plus, Cushing fit him culturally. “I was privately schooled from nursery school,” recalls Bennett, who graduated from The Lawrenceville School in 1974.

Bennett taught all kinds of science, from biology to marine science to

conceptual physics and engineering. He also coached tennis and crosscountry. “As I told all my students, it’s the first place that I would wake up in the morning and I actually wanted to go to work, so I enjoyed it from that aspect,” Bennett recalls.

His gif t was making sometimes dull assemblies a little more lively. “I did it for...oh, I don’t know, probably until about five years ago, and then I stopped. I’d get up to make an announcement and all the students would whip their phones out. I thought, really, I was gonna become an internet embarrassment. I just felt that what happened in Cushing, stayed in Cushing.”

“Dave’s contributions in and out of the classroom were truly inspiring and impactful. His humor, wit, and passion for teaching were embedded in every class he taught and assembly announcement he made,” says Kurt Kublbeck, a former colleague and now the chair of Cushing’s science department.

For Bennett, as with many students, getting up to speak reflected the fact that at Cushing he found his voice. “I found that getting on stage didn’t bother me, whereas probably if I’d done it in my 20s, it would have,” he says. I did a stint in one of the musicals because you don’t say no to [Performing Arts Chair] Julia [Ohm]. “She said, ‘I have a part for you’ and I thought: Here we go. But it turned out fine. That’s a pleasant memory.”

Some other favorite moments were setting up biology labs — “I’ve always been a lab person” — and lingering with friends in his department in the dining room during free periods.

Bennett will remember Cushing as a place where people tried to answer your questions and where there is a great sense of camaraderie. Penguin Nation includes his two children, Vera ’09 and Chris ’13.

As he prepared to retire, Bennett made one final, very public announcement — starring in a video as he climbed the clock tower and encouraged the community to give to the school.

Dave’s contributions in and out of the classroom were truly inspiring and impactful. His humor, wit, and passion for teaching were embedded in every class he taught and assembly announcement he made.”

—KURT KUBLBECK, SCIENCE DEPARTMENT CHAIR

Chelle Salvucci P’26 and David Bennett P’09, ’13 pose at Cushing’s 2022 Graduation.

Bennett not only traversed multiple harrowing flights of open stairs, but he ad-libbed as he went. “I’ve reached the clock level,” he said, glancing at the timepiece. “Ten minutes fast. That’s about appropriate.” A line delivered with a hint of snark in his voice.

At the end, he tried his hand at ringing the bell and then looked stunned as the sound echoed in the small brick tower chamber: “Wow. It’s a lot louder than I thought it would be.”

Generations of Penguins went wild, posting their responses on social media:

“ Whoever came up with this idea and decided to mic Mr. Bennett as he climbed the clock tower deserves a raise!!!” wrote Jillian Rose Wessel ’07.

“Love this! Will never forget Mr. Bennett! And how does he look the exact same after 14 years?! Thanks for sharing,” wrote Kendall Swenson Garifo ’10.

Shawn Clark ’15 may have gotten it just right: “One of the all time great characters of Cushing.”

Enjoy retirement, Dave. And be sure to drop by every once in a while to make us laugh again.

SCAN ME! Watch David’s climb of the clock tower for the 2022 Day of Giving video.

NEPSAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR WINNER

Sara Moeller ’23 Leads Softball to Perfect Season

For Sara Moeller ’23, like so many others, the coronavirus pandemic meant lost opportunities. As a sophomore at Brooks School in 2020, Sara wasn’t able to play softball because of the pandemic shutdown — and her next season was similarly truncated with half as many games as usual.

But redemption in 2022 has been sweet. Sara transferred to Cushing in the fall of 2021 as a repeat junior and shone. As the starting pitcher in the spring, she helped lead Cushing to a 20–0 record on the way to the Western New England Preparatory School Athletic Association Class B Championship title. In July, Sara was named the NEPSAC Player of the Year.

Cushing has been a great fit for Sara. “I feel like it just clicked,” she says. “There are a lot of student athletes on campus and in the junior class, there are a lot of repeats like me,

so I could connect with a lot of kids. When we started the season, I knew it was going to be a good season.”

Sara achieved a 17–0 record with an earned run average of 1.35 and 154 strikeouts in 98 innings. A highlight of the season was her final game against St. Luke’s School, which boasted a similar undefeated record and also had a strong pitcher. Sara pitched all seven innings to win the championship game 1–0.

Coach A aron Santos ’06 said Sara’s play was important to the team’s success. “She obviously impacts the

program and the girls around her as well,” says Santos. “We’ve been competitive for some years, and we have girls that were happy that she was here to continue to grow the program and play at a high level.”

The depth of support at Cushing, both from her teammates and from the faculty, has made a difference. “The people on the team are amazing,” adds Sara, who also plays on the varsity basketball and soccer teams. “I couldn’t have done it without them.”

She obviously impacts the program and the girls around her as well. We’ve been competitive for some years, and we have girls that were happy that she was here to continue to grow the program and play at a high level.”

—COACH AARON SANTOS ’06

Foot Chases + Squirty Penguins =

Penguin Attack is back! After a two-year pandemic pause, the beloved tradition returned to Cushing. Armed with penguin-shaped squirters, participants are assigned another member of the contest to squirt — and eliminate — in a spirited game similar to tag. This iteration of the event has been running since 2014. (No squirting is allowed inside buildings or during classes or athletics.)

At the end of two weeks, Pedro Vilela ’22 was the last Penguin standing, outlasting 156 other members of the community. As organizer Beth Stone P’19, ’22 likes to write, “The force is strong in this Penguin.”

A HIGHLIGHT OF PENGUIN ATTACK

Sawyer-Hopkins Dorm Redo Continues Housing Renewal

PROJECT BOASTS BIGGER, BETTER WELLNESS CENTER

Ground has broken on Cushing Academy’s next housing project. The new Sawyer-Hopkins Dorm and Wellness Center will provide modern amenities and much more space on a similar footprint.

Renderings promise a beautiful brick dorm with a pitched metal roof. The project will double the number of faculty apartments on site from three to six, and increase the student bed count from 47 to 60. The building will have more than double the square footage, at 37,000 square feet,

according to Ed Kirk, Cushing’s director of master planning and engineering.

The new dorm is designed to provide great flexibility — allowing for it to be all girls, all boys, or a combination. It will feature upgraded rooms, improved storage options, exterior entrances to faculty apartments, and laundry facilities on each floor. In addition, the new dorm layout will make it easier for faculty to support and supervise students. “These enhancements will allow the dorm to work better for the students and work better for the faculty,” says Kirk.

One of the biggest improvements will be the upgraded first-floor Wellness Center, which will be 4,500 square feet, up from 2,000 square feet. The increased capacity will allow for additional offerings including expanded counseling services, pre-diagnostics, and more monitoring spaces.

Kirk says he expects the project to be completed in 18 months. The Wellness Center is expected to open in spring of 2024, with the first new residents moving into the dorm in the fall of 2024.

Athletes Push Comfort Zone by Taking the Stage

SPRING PLAY FEATURES SOCCER PLAYERS TURNED ACTORS

How do you convince students who have never acted before to step on stage? If you are Julia Ohm, the chair of Cushing’s Performing Arts Department, you stage a play about a girls’ soccer team and recruit diehard athletes to participate.

The vehicle for this effort last spring was The Wolves, written by Sarah DeLappe, which premiered off-Broadway in 2016. It follows the players through pregame warmups week after week and was staged in Cushing’s Heslin Gymnasium. “I went after not only actors but also athletes because there’s a believability factor with every play. Many of these performers were soccer girls, girls that play sports all the time,” Ohm says. “I thought it might draw people to the theater, might add something new to the season, might get us all out of our box metaphorically — but also out of the pandemic ‘box’ that we’ve been trapped in for so long — which is always good, creatively.”

In this setting the audience and the actors were on the same level. Being eye-to-eye provided an intimacy that made the play’s tough issues — global politics, social anxiety, eating disorders, tragedy — even more powerful. “I always

promised [the actors] that the theater is going to change their life,” Ohm says. “That’s a really big thing to throw down, but I think for them, stepping outside of their comfort zone and delving into this work the way they did, did just that.”

Cushing Moments

Chloe Hachey ’22 and Lily Riley ’22 prepare a tray of food on Tony Fisher Day.

Thousands of Acts of Service

ONE DAY OF TONY FISHER-INSPIRED LOVE

M.Anthony “Tony” Fisher ’69 loved Cushing Academy. A dedicated trustee and philanthropist, he died in a plane crash on the way to visit campus in 2003. Each spring our community spends a full day in his memory caring for others through acts of service.

For Tony Fisher Day 2022, Penguins volunteered at five state parks and land trusts, two farms, three churches, two libraries, three food banks, two Little League fields, one historical site, and Cushing’s own campus.

“Tony Fisher Day is easily one of my favorite days of the year,” says Donny Connors, Cushing’s student activities director. “It’s a day that Cushing puts its best foot forward and heads out into the community to give back in a variety of different ways. When talking to students at the end of the day, it’s evident that they end up getting just as much out of the experience as they give, and it is something that will follow them later on in life.”

SO MUCH ACCOMPLISHED!

> Sorted 6,000 cans

> Made more than 2,000 meals

> Assembled more than 500 bags of food

> Put up 200+ yards of fencing

> Bagged over 200 bags of leaves

> Relocated more than 100 picnic tables

> Moved hundreds of rocks

> Cooked and packaged over 60 gluten-free meals

> Spread 5 dump trucks of mulch

> Planted 5 trees

> Rerouted a stream

> Cleared more than a mile and a half of roadside trash

#ThePowerOfCushing

APRIL 5: Our Winter Sports student-athletes were recognized at our annual Awards Banquet. Congratulations to all teams on a highly successful season on the court, the ice, and the slopes!

#CushingAthletics #PenguinNation

#ThePowerOfCompetition

APRIL 14: The Ashburnham Fire Dept. EMT and EMS paramedics joined our Kinesiology class to show our students how to appropriately move a patient (a 185lb dummy) and use an ambulance stretcher. The students were also given a tour of the ambulance and the equipment at the disposal of the department.

#CushingScience #ThePowerOfCuriosity #AshburnhamMA

APRIL 15: Wes from @mindingyourmind joined us this morning for a special assembly focused on mental health education. Wes led our students through his inspirational story, providing techniques and resources to help end the stigma and destructive behaviors often associated with mental health issues.

#CushingAcademy #ThePowerOfCushing #MindingYourMind

MAY 4: Last week our Class of 2022 celebrated their decision day! Over 100 Penguins will head to college, play junior hockey, or take a gap year as they flee the Cushing nest. Congratulations to all of our Senior and Post Graduate class, we will miss you.

#CushingAcademy #PoweredByConfidence

#ThePowerOfCushing

MAY 19: Our Spring Sports have celebrated many Senior Ceremonies this week! Thank you to all of our student-athletes that have represented our Academy so well on the field, court, track, and course.

#CushingAthletics #RollPens

#ThePowerOfCompetition

MAY 5: Check out these amazing action shots from our Spring Dance, titled “Just Dance”! Students composed their own pieces in collaboration with our dance program and entertained our campus over two nights of performances.

#CushingArts #CushingDance #PoweredByCreativity

MAY 6: Congratulations to Marvin ’23 and Edison ’23 who have been elected as the 2022/23 Student Body Co-Presidents by their fellow students! Voting took place after a series of impressive speeches by the entire candidate pool, who we would like to thank for their efforts and commitment to Cushing Academy.

#CushingAcademy #CushingStudents #ThePowerOfCushing

MAY 25: In the lead-up to Commencement, we held our Annual Awards celebration followed by the final All School Handshake for the Class of 2022. Such traditions are integral to the Cushing Academy experience and what makes life in Ashburnham special!

#CushingAcademy #CushingTraditions #ThePowerOfCushing

JUNE 3: Cushing Reunion 2022 started with a bang! We are thrilled to welcome back so many familiar and friendly faces.

#CushingAcademy #CushingReunion

(Re)creating a Community of Letters at Cushing

STUDENTS BRING PATCHWORK LITERARY MAGAZINE BACK TO LIFE

Someone once said that to see the light you must have seen the dark. You have never felt the light of being together if you have never felt the darkness of being alone. Would there be light if there was never darkness, or would there be together if there was never alone?

—“Aphorism” by Harry O’Connor ’25, Patchwork, Cushing Academy Literary Magazine

Simon Hunt is a self-described “word nerd.” The Cushing Academy English teacher inherited his journalist father’s passion for language and has been writing poetry since childhood.

“I love the idea of making stories and poetry. Sharing that with kids is my favorite thing,” he says.

When Hunt, a 30-year veteran teacher, arrived at Cushing last fall, helping students publish a literary magazine seemed obvious. “It’s so crucial that students be invited to express themselves, and that they not only learn to read and analyze literature, but to think of themselves as participants in a community of letters,” says Hunt.

To reboot Patchwork, Hunt recruited a staff of seven students who commissioned submissions from seminar students and through all-school

contests. In the end, the staff had a solid stack of submissions to consider from students in all classes, from those who see themselves as gifted writers and those who are new to the craft. Some teachers even submitted work for review.

From the gorgeous portrait on the cover through a powerful poem about watching a family member’s passing at the end, there is much to be admired about Patchwork. Highlights include a bilingual sonnet by Jiaming Perry Zeng ’22, a sweet essay on gratitude by Yenae Gebru ’23, and an award-winning essay, “Nonviolent Protest and the False Flag of Civility,” by Talia Trigg ’22.

Hunt says having the magazine printed and distributed on campus made a big impact on the contributors and the community. “I think it says something significant to the kids:

‘We think your work is worthy of being an artifact in the manner of the books that we’ve been reading,’” says Hunt.

He hopes that for some of these students, the experience will spark a passion that lasts. “When you think about high school, one of the things you want to do is just throw lots and lots of stuff at them and see what sticks. The idea that literary culture should be part of that seems absolutely crucial to me.”

Theodore L. Iorio Arena Builds Updated Weight Training Facility

NEW SULLIVAN STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING ROOM MODELED ON HARVARD’S

When new boys’ hockey coach Paul Pearl arrived at Cushing Academy in the summer of 2021, he had a vision for an improvement that would bring the school’s already outstanding hockey program to the next level — an updated strength and conditioning room located inside Iorio Arena.

“Part of what we want to be able to provide our student athletes who play hockey is kind of a college experience before they get there,” Coach Pearl says. “A huge part of what makes a good college hockey player or pro hockey player is the weight training they do off the ice, and we try to provide that.”

Cushing has a full strength and conditioning room down the hill in Watkins Field House. But, between the boys’ and girls’ hockey teams, about 120 students spend most of their time in the winter at the hockey rink. Making that walk, especially during the cold winter months, is difficult. Coach Pearl thought an auxiliary option — not as big as the Watkins facility, but convenient enough to be an everyday option for hockey players — would be ideal.

Led by Conor Sheary ’10, a generous group including hockey alumni and families of hockey players donated to make sure the revamped

Sullivan Strength and Conditioning Room was completed before school opened this fall. “I think it speaks to Cushing’s commitment for us to develop these kids and get them ready for college, and it also speaks to the generosity of our alums,” Pearl says.

This new facility sets Cushing apart from other programs. “In terms of functionality for girls’ and boys’ hockey players, it’s a home run,” Pearl says. “I don’t think a lot of prep schools have that. It’s very college-ish in terms of what we were able to do. The room is very similar to the room we built at Harvard when I was there.”

Two Decades of Building a Basketball Legacy

EMILY ROLLER RETIRES FROM COACHING CUSHING’S GIRLS’ TEAM

Emily Roller never planned to follow in her parents’ footsteps. She grew up at a boarding school with two parents who were coaches, but Roller pictured her career at the FBI. Still, in 2002, Roller found herself stepping onto the court as Cushing’s girls’ basketball coach. She anticipated staying for perhaps two years.

Last spring, two full decades later, Roller retired from coaching, capping a terrific 20-year run in which she rebuilt the program. Under her guidance, Cushing progressed to the New England tournament semifinals or finals six times in the last 15 years and captured the New England championship in 2007.

Roller’s path to coaching at Cushing was both well trod and unexpected. Her childhood was spent on the courts and fields at Tabor Academy, where her father coached football and basketball and her mother was the first woman to coach the girls’ varsity basketball team when Tabor went coed in the early ’80s. Being a capable female athlete was long at the core of her identity. “I’ve actually been doing a lot of reflecting, thinking about my journey this year, because it’s the 50th anniversary [of Title IX],” she says. “I was surrounded by athletes my whole life. I loved it. I really took to the gym.”

Af ter graduating from Tabor, Roller attended Columbia University, winning their award for the top scholarathlete. She has also been inducted into Tabor’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She worked for a couple of years in a law firm and dreamed of being an FBI profiler, a path thwarted by a failed vision test. Then she saw a posting for a job at Cushing, her basketball archrival as a student at Tabor.

“I actually came back into boarding school against every single inclination in my body,” she says. “I had been born and bred for this and I said, ‘No way. I am never working in boarding schools and I am never working at Cushing.’ I really fought against it. I thought, I’ve already done that. That’s not my story. Am I really supposed to be going back to boarding school?”

Roller arrived at Cushing and fell in love with the community. “It just

“I loved empowering young women. That connection that you can have outside the classroom — it’s just different. What you’re going through is different. What you’re asking of them is different. I really, really loved it.”

—EMILY ROLLER, DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING

sucked me in,” she says. She took a program that was struggling and revived it, making it to the playoffs in her third year as coach. “I loved empowering young women,” she says. “That connection that you can have outside the classroom — it’s just different. What you’re going through is different. What you’re asking of them is different. I really, really loved it.”

Her work changed her players. “She is a true teacher of the game,” says Director of Athletics Jennifer Viana. “She had such a passion for it, and you could feel it every day when she was teaching the girls. She made them better players.”

For the first eight years she was a traditional “triple threat” — teaching math, coaching, and serving as a dorm parent. Then Roller had the chance to slide into college counseling — another inherited tradition. Her brother, mom, and dad all work in the field, making the Rollers a “royal family” of boarding school college counselors. Roller is now in her sixth year as director of college counseling.

Stepping back from coaching will allow Roller to focus on leading her team in that department. The tough decision was when to step back. She decided that the end of last year — when a large group of players were graduating — would be the best option.

That last season was special. An amazing group of five seniors led the team to the second round of the New England playoffs before they lost to Hamden Hall, ending their season. “We just had a phenomenal athlete leading us in Fanta Kone ’22, and we had phenomenal leadership in Lily Stone ’22. We also had two outstanding senior role players,” says Roller. “The singular lesson I would love to give to athletes at Cushing is to look at Jane Harmon ’22 and to look at Zahira Branch ’22, and to look at how powerful your role can be even if you’re not a starter. Finally, I had a great [post-

graduate] addition in Grace Ardito ’22.”

“I was incredibly close to most of them,” Roller says. “We lived through COVID together. We played through COVID together. There’s a different bond with that crew.”

Roller will hold close the highs — her first win, that New England title, even watching the team play through the pandemic — but also the lows — helping student-athletes through personal challenges and season-ending injuries.

“It’s hard to step away from something that you really love. That’s what I say to my students. It is supposed to be hard. If it’s not hard,” she says, “what were you doing?”

EMILY C. ROLLER AWARD

Going forward, the Emily C. Roller Award will be given each year to a player who “demonstrates sportsmanship, exemplary effort, and a positive attitude while being a supportive teammate.”

Cushing Moments

TJ Haigh ’22 and brother Matthew Haigh ’25 take advantage of a late season snowfall to hit the slopes at nearby peaks.

Class of 2022 Commencement Celebrated

NEW ALUMNI JOIN PENGUIN NATION

From the first notes of “Pomp and Circumstance” to that final senior handshake, the Class of 2022 marked all the beloved rituals at Cushing’s 147th Commencement on May 21. This cohort faced many challenges along the way — as Valedictorian Lily Stone told the audience, the four-year seniors had only one year completely untouched by the pandemic. But Head of School Randy Bertin reminded the class that “Penguins have tremendous capacity.” The Class of 2022 will forever be remembered for just that.

LILY STONE LEAVES HER MARK AT CUSHING

2022 Valedictorian Plans Career in

Lily Stone first told her mother she would attend Cushing Academy when she was in fifth grade. The Westminster native remembers driving by Cushing regularly, especially when bringing her brother to football practice. Her mom humored her saying, “Okay, you can apply, but financially, I don’t know if that’s possible.” When eighth grade rolled around, Lily pushed ahead and applied. When she opened her acceptance letter, what lay before her was like a magic ticket: Lily was named a Watkins Scholar. She had won a full scholarship.

Lily was thrilled, but still had one legitimate concern: “Do I leave all my friends who I have been going to school with since kindergarten?” The question really only lingered for a moment. “It was kind of a no-brainer, just because I wanted the culture and just living with people from around the world,” Lily says.

The Watkins Scholar Program was founded to support “high-achieving students who possess a love of learning, strong leadership skills, and a desire to contribute significantly to Cushing Academy.” Since day one, Lily did just that. She was a four-year, three-season athlete, playing soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. She served as student body president, soaked up Shakespeare, and dove into science.

“I really discovered my passion for science at Cushing,” says Lily. “I’ve always been a pretty well-rounded student, but I’ve always been way more into history and English. Cushing was really where I started getting more into the sciences, so that was kind of a big discovery.”

Medicine

The catalyst was her freshman science class where the teacher gave them the freedom to study how cells work in the context of something that interested them. Lily picked a research project on how an anti-cancer compound was being used to cure schizophrenia. “That was the one project that I remember the most because I got to apply it to something I was interested in,” she says.

In the spring of her senior year, Lily even pushed outside her comfort zone and acted in a play for the first time ever. “I love watching theater, but I’ve never really participated in it. So that was different and I loved it,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s for me, but I definitely loved the experience.”

Finally, she ended her journey, addressing her classmates as valedictorian. Lily talked about change and how to embrace it. Her class, touched by three years of the pandemic, “had to do more with less time,” she said.

Lily is on to Wellesley College, where she plans to study neuroscience and hopes to someday become a surgeon. “I also wasn’t super sure about the all-women’s college idea. I didn’t really know if that was for me, but then I sat in on a class at an all-women’s college, and it was just a really cool experience,” she says. “I love that feeling and just the camaraderie that went along with it.”

What Lily says she will miss most about Cushing are the people. “It’s such a good environment and I got so close with not only the students, but all the faculty,” she says. “It is just having that endless support system.”

We will miss you, too, Lily.

Lily Stone first told her mother she would attend Cushing Academy when she was in fifth grade.

Luke Saunders ’04 has a passion for food that first grew through a vegetable garden at his home in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. At Cushing Academy, Saunders joined the food committee, pushing for healthier, better-tasting food in the dining hall.

As Saunders told the Class of 2022 in his Commencement address, those early seeds have blossomed into a thriving business. Farmer’s Fridge, of which he is the founder and CEO, sells healthy food from refrigerated vending machines in airports, hospitals, office buildings and — since a pandemic pivot — also through home delivery.

Saunders is part of a large Penguin clan, including his father Kerby Saunders ’67, a longtime trustee and trustee emeritus, sister Leah ’05, uncle Cardie ’65, and cousins George ’04 and Chris ’06. When he entered Cushing as a sophomore, the draw was more robust extracurricular and community opportunities, he said in an interview.

“The things that were happening outside of the classroom had a huge impact,” Saunders says. “I am always really grateful for that. The diversity of the student body, from geography, languages — it really enabled me to meet lots of different types of people, and informed how I think now.”

High-quality academics were a factor, too, he says. “By the time I got to college, I was getting feedback from my freshmen-year professors that I was pretty ahead of the curve, so that preparation was invaluable.”

Even with that solid foundation, Saunders told the graduates and their families, the road wasn’t straight and

Farmer’s Fridge Founder Makes Healthy Food Accessible

COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER LUKE SAUNDERS ’04

SHARES HIS WISDOM

smooth. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, he took a job back at his family’s grease lubricating plant, driving a forklift while his friends worked on Wall Street.

Saunders became a traveling salesman and grew frustrated not finding healthy food options on the road. He floated an idea — vending machines filled with healthy food. Many told him that it would never work. People didn’t want to eat well, the naysayers argued. Saunders was convinced they were wrong. What people didn’t want was tasteless, expensive, inconvenient food. Once he presented a solution that addressed those problems, he found success. “We have sold millions of meals to all kinds of consumers all over the United States. Don’t let other people define you,” he advised the graduating seniors.

He also argued for building powerful teams. “You need a team to do anything great,” Saunders told the audience. “At Cushing I was given the opportunity to play on great teams.” Now he has 270 employees.

The start might have been tough, but success has come. Saunders has been named to Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business (2019), Chicago Crain’s Business 40 Under 40 (2018), and Forbes 30 Under 30 (2016). At Commencement he received the 2022 Cushing Academy Leadership Award.

A home garden still matters to Saunders. On his rooftop in Chicago, he grows raspberries so ripe they fall apart when picked. But when Saunders travels, he knows that, thanks to his hard work and vision, he can find a caprese salad or a truffle couscous bowl at Farmer’s Fridge in 20 states.

At Cushing Academy, Saunders joined the food committee, pushing for healthier, better-tasting food in the dining hall.

THE END OF THE YEAR

at Cushing always includes a chance to recognize the abundance of talent among the students. One particular gift is getting to hear how well the faculty know their students. This speech is just one example:

“I met the recipient of the Bette Davis Award during his freshman year when we were casting West Side Story. We were recruiting athletes and I asked him if he would play a small part. ‘I can’t sing,’ he said. To which I replied: ‘Well that’s funny, because this isn’t a big singing role.’ ‘Ms. Ohm, I just want to do hockey — I don’t want to complicate my life by trying to do two afternoon commitments.’ We all know how that went … four years later he’s majoring in theatre at Emerson College and pursuing a degree in acting. Loyal, hardworking, and a salt of the earth young man, I could say, ‘They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.’ But they do... the Bette Davis Award for Excellence in Theatre goes to William Lessard.”

—Julia

Ohm, Chair, Performing Arts Department

Class of 2022 College Matriculation

Amherst College

University of Arizona

Babson College

Baylor University

Bentley University

Boston College

Boston University

Bridgewater State University

Brown University

University of California-Berkeley

University of California-Davis University of California-Irvine University of California-Santa Barbara University of California-Santa Cruz

Carnegie Mellon University

Clark University

Colby College Columbia College Chicago Connecticut College Curry College

Dartmouth College University of Denver Dickinson College

Drexel University

Elmira College

Elon University

Emerson College

Emmanuel College

Endicott College

Fairfield University

Fordham University

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Franklin Pierce University

George Washington University

Hobart William Smith Colleges

Hofstra University

College of the Holy Cross

Indiana University-Bloomington

Ithaca College

Keene State College

Lafayette College

Loyola Marymount University

Loyola University Chicago

University of Maine

Marquette University

Marymount University

University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Menlo College

Merrimack College

Middlebury College

Midwestern State University Monmouth University

Mount Holyoke College

Muhlenberg College

The New School

New York University

Northeastern University

Pace University, New York City Campus

Purdue University-Main Campus

Purdue University-Fort Wayne

Quinnipiac University

Rhode Island College

University of Rochester

Sacred Heart University

Saint Francis University

Scripps College

Siena College

Simmons University

Skidmore College

University of Southern California

Southern New Hampshire University

St. Lawrence University

Syracuse University

University of Toronto

Tyler Junior College

Union College (NY)

University at Albany, SUNY University of St Andrews

University of Washington-Seattle Campus

University of Waterloo

Wellesley College

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Worcester Polytechnic Institute University of Wyoming

“Second Mom” Honored for Loving Her Students

SARA TRIGG P’22, ’24 WINS TEACHER OF THE YEAR

“Warm. “Kind.” “Nice.” “Best hugs. “Caring.” “Supportive.” “Special.”

These are the descriptions from Cushing students about Sara Trigg P’22, ’24, last year’s Teacher of the Year. A math instructor who also coaches volleyball and lacrosse, Trigg is quick to say she does not have any magical math abilities. What makes her teaching special is that she builds real relationships with students and cares about them as people.

“Ms. Trigg is one of the most genuinely warm humans I have ever met,” wrote one of the students who voted for her. “She is endlessly kind and thoughtful. She roots for her students [and] she wants them to succeed. I have never had her as a teacher, only a coach, but every time I see her outside of the season she provides a massive hug and keeps up with how we are all doing and what we are up to. No one deserves this more than her.”

Knowing students deeply is at the heart of how Trigg engages. “One of the things that I love most about boarding school is you get the whole person and you get to work to develop the whole person,” she says. “I love coaching, I love teaching, I love the all-encompassing nature of boarding schools, and Cushing Academy just has been such a great fit for me because Cushing’s community values just really match mine. I’m not a real flashy person, but I’m just someone who’s sort of based in love and caring, and respecting every individual.

“I operate from a place of humility, but also a place of love and respect,” she continues. “I try my very best in the first weeks of school to really establish relationships, to say, ‘Look, this is a safe place. This is a place where it’s okay to make mistakes and we’re going to get through this together.’”

At Cushing, the process of picking the teacher of the year award is very student-driven. Students vote in the first round. The nominees are narrowed down and faculty vote on that smaller group, and then they return a final group of names for the students to pick the winner. When they voted, several students said that Trigg is like a parent figure to them. “Ms. Trigg [is] like my second mom here,” wrote one student. “She always gives me a hug when I feel not good. She makes me feel I can tell everything to her and she always will give a response no matter how busy she is.”

For Trigg, a veteran boarding and independent school teacher and administrator in her fourth year at Cushing, an extra special part of winning was having her children Talia ’22 and Tobias ’24 present the award to her. “The award is wonderful, but their presenting the award just meant the world to me,” she says. “It was so well done.”

SCAN ME! Watch the full coverage of 2022 Commencement.

“She is endlessly kind and thoughtful. She roots for her students [and] she wants them to succeed.”

Our Alumnae and Pave the Way Make Their Mark

Girls have been at the heart of Cushing Academy from the start. In 1865, the idea of a coeducational boarding school was at least progressive and perhaps even radical. Other schools of the era were mostly founded for boys only, with a smaller handful created solely for girls. But the Academy’s founder, Thomas Parkman Cushing, wanted everyone to be educated.

Ending up fully coed, however, was a bit of a quirk of circumstance. Mr. Cushing intended for there to be two schools, one for boys and one for girls, with at least a quarter of a mile in between. Funding for that vision fell short, so the trustees won permission from Cushing’s heirs to educate boys and girls together in the same building. In a nod to the founder’s intentions and the mores of the time, the original building had separate doors, one for boys and one for girls, according to

Cushing Yesterday and Today, published in 2016 for the school’s sesquicentennial.

Even 100 years after Cushing’s founding, “the coeducational boarding school is, to say the least, unusual. Public opinion regarding such is generally skeptical,” wrote Frank Prentice Read in Cushing 1865–1965. Over the next quarter century, of course, that sentiment changed rapidly. Nearly every New England boarding school went coed. But Cushing was the first.

Cushing’s alumnae are out front as well. Whether it is Helen Frame Peters ’66, who was often the only woman in the room on Wall Street, Babetta “Babs” Marrone ’70, doing cutting-edge climate change research, tech CEO Maya Rogers ’96, or entrepreneur Rachel Sommers ’07, Cushing women have taken their progressive start and are making the future their own. Here are some of their stories.

On the Front Lines of Cutting-Edge Science Research

Diverse Perspectives at Cushing Readied Babs Marrone ’70 for Her Career

Babetta “Babs” Marrone ’70 has built a career in areas of science that barely existed when she was at Cushing Academy.

For nearly four decades she served as a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, focused on cutting-edge projects, from how hormones affect the brain, to work on the Human Genome Project, and finally to things related to climate change. She holds the distinction of being a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. And, in October, she was promoted to being a LANL Laboratory Fellow. “That’s been really fun for me and challenging, just being able to pivot and adapt with changing missions and changing national needs over the years,” she says.

Marrone grew up just a mile away from Cushing, on Center Street, and found that the Academy provided great female role models who inspired and encouraged her. Her brother and uncle attended Cushing before her, and her sister and daughter, Robin Yoshida ’11, came after her.

One of those teachers saw in Marrone a spark that she thought would fit well at a new, very nontraditional college being founded. Marrone was in the first class to enroll at Hampshire College in 1970.

“No grades. No majors. So Hampshire was quite progressive,” Marrone says. “Academically, it was a real eye-opener in a different way than Cushing was.

“Cushing was an eye-opener for me because of the people from all over the world, and even all over different parts of the country,” Marrone remembers.

“My family didn’t even travel all that far, so just meeting all sorts of different people was a major life change for me. I had a close friend who was from Thailand, and it was really very nice.”

Hampshire was where science grabbed hold of her, as she fulfilled a requirement. “I ended up in a neuroscience class, and that was like, ‘Man, this is kind of interesting stuff,’” Marrone remembers thinking.

She also worked doing research in the psychology department at the

nearby University of Massachusetts. Graduate school was a natural next step, and Marrone earned a PhD at Rutgers University in 1978. Her focus was on neuroscience, hormones, and interaction with the brain and neurotransmitter systems to regulate behavior.

Next came a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin and then a job at St. Louis University. In the mid-1980s, she headed to Los Alamos, where they were building neuroscience capability at the national security lab.

Many think of Los Alamos only in terms of atomic weapons research, but Marrone says that her work in neuroscience was a perfect fit. “Since the Manhattan Project, there was a lot of interest in the health effects of radiation,” she says. “There was concern about fallout from above-ground testing

1941

Start of Science Smarts: Babs Marrone (second from right) with her fellow Cushing cum laude members in 1970.

and the public exposure to radiation, and then …health effects on those working with radioactive materials, even as part of cleanup efforts. So, understanding the health effects of radiation very early on became a part of the national security program at Los Alamos.”

Over time that focus turned more and more to studying the impact of radiation

on the cell, on DNA, and on molecular effects such as cancer. Marrone found herself involved in the Human Genome Project. “We can’t really understand the effects of radiation on the genome unless we understand the genome better,” she says. “I was fortunate enough to be part of that initial effort.”

Her more recent focus has been closely tied to climate change issues. She has looked at using biological systems for energy production, as well as how to modify the products we use in our everyday life — such as plastic — to minimize harm to the planet. “It’s really been trying to harness biology to help us be more resilient and adaptive to climate change. Now, with the big influx in funding to support the transition to clean energy, we’re essentially drinking from a fire hose here in terms

of technologies that we could bring to bear on energy transition,” she says.

Being female in a male-dominated field has had its challenges, Marrone admits. “Especially when you get more advanced in your career, a number of women drop out,” she says. “Definitely when I got to Los Alamos there were no women in leadership positions, even in the biological sciences, or very few. Even today, sometimes I still find myself as the only woman in the room, but it’s gotten so much better here. My boss now is a woman.”

The diversity of students she interacted with at Cushing helped her navigate sometimes being the only woman in the room. “My peers were just so diverse, and so that has been really helpful going into new situations,” Marrone says. “I have more of an appreciation for diversity and what it means, than I would have, growing up in my little town of Ashburnham — 2,000 people, all from almost the same backgrounds. The world exposure broadened my perspective, and I will be forever grateful to Cushing for that experience.”

The diversity of students Marrone interacted with at Cushing helped her navigate sometimes being the only woman in the room.

A Wall Street Pioneer Makes Her Mark Harnessing Data Cushing’s Math Mentoring Helped Launch

Helen Frame Peters ’66

Helen Frame Peters ’66 was one of the early female members of the original old boys’ club — Wall Street.

As the first woman to earn a PhD in finance from the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, she was a trailblazer. Starting in the 1970s, she was often the only woman in high-powered rooms, where she introduced new quantitative methods for investments. Peters eventually returned to academia as the dean of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, where she continues to serve as a professor of finance.

For Peters, as for many Cushing women, her time at the Academy was a turning point. Her local high school in Ipswich enrolled few girls who had their sights set on a top-tier scientific or Ivy League university, which was Peters’ goal. Peters knew she wanted an academically rigorous, coed boarding school, and there weren’t many in the early 1960s. Cushing fit the bill.

“My first memory was having done very well before in school and thinking like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I got in this place in the first quarter and had the shock of my life, which is what I needed,” Peters recalls. “It was a challenge that I went there for and it was a wake-up call.”

She also remembers her terrific Cushing calculus teacher, Minoo Shroff, who challenged the two girls in the class, Peters and her roommate Carol Moffitt ’66, to excel, pushing them to a higher level. Plus, socially, there were others with shared ambitions beyond just finding a husband. Peters strongly respected her mother, who was head of public relations for WGBH in Boston — her father was an editor at The Boston Globe — and wanted the control over her life that she felt her mother enjoyed because of her work.

Af ter Cushing, Peters went on to the University of Pennsylvania and was there when the world began to change radically. When she started,

women had to wear skirts to the library and to class. By her senior year, the rules barring visiting dorms of the opposite gender had been dropped entirely. “That was a dramatic change in four years,” Peters recalls. “It was very strict when I arrived and very liberal and open when I graduated.”

Still, Peters remained one of the only women in her field. She studied economics because math at Penn was very theoretical and “I was really a practical problem solver,” she says. After finishing her undergraduate degree, she shifted over to the Wharton School and earned a PhD in finance. “I had one professor who, every time I asked a question, his answer would be, ‘Well, because you’re the only girl in the class, I guess I have to answer your question,’” remembers Peters. “That was part of it. You just sort of bite your lip to get through it, and I did very well.” Sixteen students began in the program and Peters was one of just three who finished.

Making Math Magic: Helen Frame Peters (back row, second from left) with the Cushing Academy Council in 1966.

She headed to big-name Wall Street firms where she developed models to price mortgages using computer analysis. She was among the first to use those high-level quantitative tools.

As the times changed, Peters looked ahead and saw that the power was going to shift to the buy side, so she moved to jobs managing money. As chief investment officer of the Global Bond Group of Scudder Kemper Investments, for example, she was in charge of $150 billion in assets and a staff of 300 around the globe.

Eventually she yearned to take spots on corporate boards and to manage her own money, things that are forbidden for investment professionals. (She also served a stint on Cushing’s Board of Trustees.) That prompted her move into academia, where the dean post at Boston College provided a new challenge. Today she still loves teaching tough, practical courses that get students ready for careers in industry.

“I had one student who took my course as a junior, which is rare — a very bright student,” says Peters. “She went to her junior internship and the boss said, ‘Does anybody here feel comfortable looking at a deal? We’re just overloaded with so many things right now.’ Everybody, from all these good schools, panicked. After a while, [the female student] said, ‘You know, I’ll try.’ And she did it.” Peters savors successes like that.

She has also raised a family, including two biological daughters and three foster daughters from Sudan. Peters credits a very supportive husband and the resources to hire help, such as a live-in housekeeper, as vital to having made it all possible.

All along, Peters has looked for ways to improve opportunities for other women. When her daughter was a student athlete at Penn, she saw that, even after Title IX, women’s sports got fewer resources, so she advocated for equity and eventually

—HELEN FRAME PETERS ’66

won a coveted Alumni Award of Merit in 2013 for encouraging the university to do better. “Your excellent sense of humor, Peters, and gracious demeanor belie the seriousness of purpose with which you approach your work, your family, community, and the University of Pennsylvania,” said Chuck Leitner, a fellow alumnus, in presenting the award.

Ever the problem solver, in 2005, Peters wrote an article for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on five concrete ways to improve opportunities for women. With her quantitative mind on full alert, Peters’ first suggestion was to publish the data about where women are now in terms of representation in various realms. “Taking these steps,” she wrote, “will help move us from a society in which women have the opportunity to succeed to one in which women do succeed, in equal measure with men.”

“I got [to Cushing]... and had the shock of my life, which is what I needed. It was a challenge that I went there for.”

Maya Rogers ’96 Made A New Start at

Alum Now Leads Tetris Video Game Company

Maya Rogers ’96 has the quintessential Cushing Academy turnaround story.

The product of a multicultural, multilingual family (her mother is Japanese, her father is DutchIndonesian), Rogers was raised in Japan by entrepreneurs who knew they wanted Rogers and her siblings to speak English, so they emigrated to Hawai‘i, where her parents met. The family moved back to Japan, and after struggling through two years at an international high school, Rogers had an epiphany: she needed to turn her life around. “I honestly wasn’t doing so well in school,” she says.

She learned that some kids in Japan’s international community attended East Coast boarding schools. With just a month before school began, she and her father took a whirlwind trip to visit schools. When she saw Cushing, something clicked. “I had such a welcoming experience,” she says. And just like that Rogers picked Cushing and was dropped off just as the volleyball preseason was about to begin. She felt liberated because she knew this was going to make a difference in her life.

Cushing transformed a reluctant student into a capable one, cementing Rogers’ independent spirit and buoying her nascent confidence. Less than two decades after graduation, she leveraged those gifts into a position as president and CEO of Tetris, a post she has held since 2014. She will share her story in the spring as Cushing’s 2023 Commencement speaker.

What made Cushing work for Rogers were several things. First,

there was the emphasis on boarding. “Everybody’s going through it together,” she says. The structured study halls prompted her to study for the first time. She knew she had succeeded when, in Mr. Hancock’s tough U.S. history class, the future valedictorian asked her for help when he missed a class. “I was like, ‘Wow. I made it. I went from a terrible student to now the valedictorian is asking me for my notes,” she says.

She also had early exposure to technology. A computer programming course was being offered and Rogers’ father, a tech entrepreneur and programmer, suggested she enroll. “I may have been the first

Cushing

girl learning programming at Cushing,” Rogers says, laughing.

Af ter Cushing, Rogers headed west again, to be closer to her family in Japan, San Francisco, and Hawai’i. She attended Pepperdine University, earning a business degree and eventually an MBA as well. In part due to her mom’s encouragement — “My mom is the Japanese, traditional Asian, like, ‘You must go and work for a big company’” — Rogers started her career at American Honda and then moved to Sony PlayStation, where she worked to Westernize games coming from Japan. “My parents were entrepreneurs in the video game industry in Japan. I understood the

A Fresh Start: Maya Rogers in 1996

culture and felt I was at home when I landed in the industry,” she says.

Rogers’ father, Henk Rogers, is a Dutch-born American businessman who created the first ever role-playing game (RPG) in Japan, creating a new genre. He is also responsible for discovering Tetris and popularizing it in the rest of the world, starting with the Game Boy. In 2023, The Tetris Movie, a biopic based on the true story of Tetris coming out of the Iron Curtain, will debut on Apple+.

“I grew up very close to my father, and I always thought I’d want to follow in his footsteps,” says Rogers.

Part of that confidence was innate, but a portion came from Cushing, Rogers says. “I’ve always been an independent person. Growing up in Japan, I was the only person in my school of mixed race, and was picked on for being a foreigner, or gaijin. Even though I

the tables turn around. Especially in those instances, I needed to stay true to myself and be who I am no matter what labels people want to put on me.”

Confidence in connecting with all kinds of people is one key to Rogers’ success, and she credits that to her time at Cushing. She loved Cushing’s strong international flavor and the chance to meet a diverse group of friends. “I didn’t hang out with just one set of friends. I connected with

since, but that’s just an example of leveraging the alumni connection.”

A second Cushing overlap came a few years later. Rogers was a speaker at a Fast Company conference in Los Angeles. The headliner was John Cena ’95, who was a year ahead of her at Cushing. “Nobody’s surprised that he became who he is because he was that guy at Cushing — just so outgoing,” Rogers remembers. “I think he got the award for most school spirit. He was always a great guy.”

—MAYA ROGERS ’96

looked like everyone else and only spoke Japanese, they deemed that I was different. It was really hard, but that experience made me tough and made me be independent. I wasn’t going to let anybody bully me. That independence prepared me with the tools to go to boarding school to be on my own. I never second-guessed my decision.”

In the video game industry, where a female CEO is quite unusual, Rogers does sometimes come up against challenges. “When I first became CEO, people would almost not believe me because I looked young and I was a female. But as soon as they see me in action, they quickly see that I am the CEO, and

everyone,” she says. “That probably prepared me for being a minority in the video game industry,” she says.

Rogers has Cushing contacts wherever she goes and loves to build those connections. In 2010, she and her family planned a vacation to Bhutan, whose monarch, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck ’99, is also a Cushing alumnus. Although King Jigme and Rogers did not cross paths while at Cushing, Rogers knew that they had mutual friends. She took a chance and blindly reached out, winning an invite to visit him at his palace. “It was really a Cushing connection,” she says. “We’ve kept in touch here and there

Rogers is passionate about her nonprofit work. She sits on the boards of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Red Cross, as well as nonprofits that specifically address women’s causes including the Women’s Fund of Hawai‘i and the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children. She has also used her leadership capital to co-found Blue Startups, Hawai’i’s first venture accelerator, which has invested in over 100 startup companies and celebrated its first company going public in 2022.

Willingness to push and try new things might, in part, grow out of one regret from Rogers’ time at Cushing — not trying ice hockey. The girls’ team had just formed during her time here. “It would have been the perfect time for me to try a new sport, but I decided to pursue volleyball and basketball instead. I think [you should] do everything you can,” she advises. “Don’t limit ourselves. As women, we tend to say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ We take the back seat, but we shouldn’t. And there’s no reason to.”

“I didn’t hang out with just one set of friends. I connected with everyone. That probably prepared me for being a minority in the video game industry.”

Future Entrepreneur: Rachel Sommers in 2007

This Woman Has Cushing Chemistry

Rachel Sommers ’07 Turns Sorrow into Entrepreneurial Success

For Rachel Sommers ’07, the moment of inspiration that made her an entrepreneur came in the midst of grief.

She was just a couple of years out of college and had begun a position at Allied Printing, her family’s thriving business in Manchester, Connecticut. She imagined many years working alongside her beloved father, who was the CEO. Then John Sommers Sr. ’74, was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. Four months later he died.

The stress took its toll on Sommers, including on her skin. “It looked like I had aged eight years in eight months. I looked awful,” she says. She wandered into a cosmetics store and asked what they had for sale that might help. In a moment of unexpected honesty, the salesclerk told her nothing in the store actually worked and advised Botox.

“I just remember being like, ‘What on earth are you talking about? How is this possible? We put people on the moon. We have so much technology. With all these products on the shelves, how does nothing work?” Sommers says.

She found herself thinking back to those agonizing months when her father was ill. Searching for something that might help, Sommers pored over alternative cancer treatments. One of the alternative treatments that she had uncovered was bee venom, as it contained a chemical compound

elastin and, in fact, mimics the effects of Botox on a smaller scale. Sommers was intrigued and started researching.

“I look ed like an absolute crazy person. I had flyers on my wall and research and all these highlighted articles,” she says. “I basically sat in my apartment for a year

known as mellittin. Mellittin is the only naturally occurring compound that is able to break into disease wall barriers such as those in HIV and cancer. Although it didn’t necessarily cure cancer, she thought this was interesting and noted it. As she pondered the saleswoman’s comment, she remembered reading that bee venom also contained collagen and

and taught myself about chemical compounds and decided that one day I was going to correct this issue in the market and bridge that gap.” Intoxicated Cosmetics, which makes venom-infused serums, was born.

Since launching in 2019, the company has attracted attention from publications including British Vogue, Forbes, and BoxyCharm. The products

“I just had the most amazing experience [at Cushing]. I really do feel like it kind of set the bar for who I am today and what I’ve done.”

—RACHEL SOMMERS ’07

are in dozens of medical spas and in retail outlets throughout the country as well as on the company website.

“ We’ve really enjoyed some awesome success,” Sommers says. “I guess it’s been about three years now. It’s been an adventure for sure.”

Sommers’ comfort with delving into chemistry has its roots at Cushing Academy. She says she wasn’t a gifted student in that course — “I struggled to get a B-minus,” Sommers says — but she was intrigued by the topic, in part because of the example of her teacher, Dr. William Sponholtz. He told students about trips to the Amazon and about the flora and fauna there. For Sommers, that was a seed planted. “Fast forward, now I regularly look to places like the Amazonian rainforest for uncovering new venomous chemical compounds that exist in nature but really haven’t been super researched,” she says.

Some of Dr. Sponholtz’s influence was the chemistry, but much of it was just encouragement. “He told me that I can do whatever I really set my mind to, “ she says. One tangible piece that stuck with Sommers was that he used one of her projects as an example for subsequent classes. “I told him, ‘I suck at chemistry. I’m terrible at chemistry,’” she remembers. “He basically told me that chemistry is what you make it and that you don’t suck at anything.”

“ That is such a classic tale of teachers at Cushing just encouraging you, pushing you beyond your boundaries,” Sommers continues. “All of a sudden, before you know it, you’re the role model for what other people should do.”

The other Cushing lesson Sommers has carried into her company is to be who you are. Intoxicated Cosmetics embraces Sommers’ own striking and confident style. The company’s motto, in the midst of a field of competitors focused on everything natural, warm, and fuzzy, is “skin care that bites back.”

“ We’re kind of the bad girls of beauty. Just really owning it and staying true to myself is the reason why I got here,” Sommers says. “I don’t need anyone else’s opinion of myself to be who I want to be, and I think that from a leadership perspective, that it’s important. I tell our interns, ‘Be who you are because no one else can be you. And that’s your superpower.’”

Despite the family legacy — in addition to her father, an aunt (Heather Perry ’71), an uncle (Gerry Sommers ’75), and a brother (Matt Sommers ’11) also attended Cushing — Sommers didn’t arrive at the Academy until her junior year. She remembers visiting earlier with her father, who was a trustee, and always feeling so at home.

“I just felt like it was so much more inclusive and welcoming,” she says. “It was a feeling of belonging right away.” To this day, Sommers’ Cushing friends are some of her best friends. Her family remains very involved with philanthropic efforts on behalf of the school.

“I just had the most amazing experience there,” Sommers says. “I really do feel like it kind of set the bar for who I am today and what I’ve done. Everyone was always very encouraging of my ideas and ambitions from when I was there until literally decades later. So I’ve always loved that about Cushing.”

Nurturing Strong Young Women

Girls in Sports Leadership Summit Empowers Students

Last May, Adaeze Alaeze-Dinma, a former collegiate and professional women’s basketball player, took to the podium at Cushing and invited a group of young women to “Raise your hand if you’ve ever been told you’re too emotional.” A bunch of hands flew into the air. “How about being too assertive?” she asked. More hands were raised. “Too talkative? Too quiet?” The hands of the young women — athletes from prep schools attending Cushing’s Girls in Sports Leadership Summit — went up over and over again.

As this year’s keynote speaker Alaeze-Dinma, who serves as assistant athletic director at Springfield College, taught the room full of young female athletes how she tackled a similar challenge in her own life. As one of six Black students out of 64 in her own prep school class, Alaeze-Dinma said, “Being told to stop acting in a way or illustrating certain characteristics led to self-reflective questions like ‘What can I act like?’ ‘What’s acceptable and what’s not?’ ‘Who am I allowed to be?’ The answer to that [last] question is YOU! I made it my mission to not conform, but to be my true authentic self every single day.”

Giving students that kind of aha experience is what the Girls in Sports Leadership Summit is all about. The program coordinator, Dr. Jennifer Willis, launched the

annual summit because she remembered nearly 20 years ago when she felt recognized as a leader. As a high school junior in Gorham, Maine, she was tapped for a select leadership program for female athletes. “It became important in my own identity as a leader and as an athlete,” says Willis, who went on to earn a doctorate in education and is now Cushing’s director of teaching and learning. “It helped me feel more connected to my school. It helped me feel more connected to the broader community.”

That sense of herself as a powerful woman was reinforced in college when she heard legendary Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer speak. “I remember walking out and feeling so empowered,” she says, “from that energy of strong women celebrating one another. Lifting each other up. I felt like I could make an impact. ”

When Willis arrived at Cushing in 2017, she yearned to create something similar for the young women in her midst.

ADAEZE ALAEZE-DINMA, KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT 2022 GIRLS IN SPORTS LEADERSHIP SUMMIT. (PICTURED AT LEFT)

“‘What can I act like?’ ‘What’s acceptable and what’s not?’ ‘Who am I allowed to be?’ The answer to that [last] question is YOU!”

—

Schools participating in the 2022 Summit:

Brooks School

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Cushing Academy

Deerfield Academy

Fay School

The Governor’s Academy

Holderness School

Lawrence Academy

Middlesex School New Hampton School

Pomfret School

The Williston Northampton School

With support from Cushing’s administration, especially Sarah Catlin, now the director of student affairs, she created the program and reached out to colleagues at other boarding schools, recruiting 13 institutions to participate in the inaugural Girls in Sports Leadership Summit in 2018. It continued to grow, even through the pandemic, and returned in-person in 2022.

The idea is simple: recognize young women who are leading and share a tool kit of skills to do it even better. The five-hour program includes a keynote address and workshop sessions with girls from different schools mixed together, sharing ideas.

Carly Barbato, the sports information director at Deerfield Academy, brought five athletes this year and has been an enthusiastic participant since the start. “I’m incredibly grateful to Cushing and Jen for putting on this conference,” she says. “It’s incredibly important to give young women this space to learn about themselves.”

Ak adia Ndur ’23, a Cushing junior who plays volleyball and lacrosse, loved Alaeze-Dinma’s talk, connecting with students from other schools, and thinking about what her own leadership values are (she identified respect and optimism). She sees how the lessons from the Summit translate into life beyond the court or the field. “Something that stuck with me is talking about taking the temperature of the room, whether that’s with your team or in the workplace,” says Akadia. “I could use that throughout my life, not just in sports.”

E.E. Ford Foundation Grant

Expands the Summit into Arts and STEAM

The success of the Girls in Sports Leadership Summit is just the beginning. Cushing Academy won a $100,000 grant from The Edward E. Ford Foundation for the Leaders and Learners Summit Series, which will allow the expansion of the program, adding similar events focused on visual and performing arts and STEAM. The visual and performing arts summit launched this fall, STEAM kicks off this winter, and an enhanced sports summit will be back in the spring.

Cushing donors also contributed more than $320,000, establishing an endowment to make sure the programs continue for the long-term. They included Marina “Boo” Vernon ’07, who was inspired to make her first leadership-level gift to Cushing and to reach out to friends and classmates to ask them to join in as well. “I was a year into working in an operations role in a manufacturing facility, which was more male-dominated,” she says. “I just felt like there were a lot of things about this program that would be super beneficial to women, given the challenges that still exist in society. Cushing provided me with a lot of a safe space to grow and blossom into the person that I am today. That allows me to stand my ground and walk into a room with a lot of men and hold a conversation and do that successfully.”

“ What was compelling to people was the exposure this will provide for our students, serve a broader community of schools, and also shine a light on Cushing,” says Greg Pollard, Cushing’s director of advancement. “We can use this as a recruitment tool, too. We can invite girls from junior boarding schools and day schools. They come, they walk on campus, and you never know what might spark their interest.”

Marina “Boo” Vernon ’07 and Amelia King Randolph ’07 greet each other at the 2022 reunion.

“We had such a wonderful time, it was so nice to be on campus and with others who shared the experience of growing up at Cushing.” —MARGOT

Mega-Reunion Delights Hundreds from Penguin Nation

SIX CLASSES FROM EACH DECADE ENJOY LONG-DELAYED GATHERING. IT WAS A PARTY WORTH WAITING FOR.

Cushing’s June 2022 reunion — the first since the pandemic began — brought together over 300 faithful Penguins, making it the largest gathering of alumni since the sesquicentennial in 2015. For each decade, the classes ending in ’0, ’1, ’2, and ’5, ’6, ’7 were a special focus, but attendees from other classes enjoyed the fun as well.

“People absolutely loved it because we had a lot of people here,” says Brett Torrey ’85, director of alumni relations. “We had people here spanning all ages and all class years.”

From the tasty barbecue under the tent to the moving memorial service to Saturday night’s grand celebration, alumni laughed, hugged, and reconnected after three long years apart. Other highlights included recognizing Bob Johnson H’21 at the art show and celebrating the naming of the metalsmithing studio in his honor, climbing Mount Watatic for minimountain day, and talking to old and new friends around the fire pits.

Whether you attended this year or not, mark your calendar for next year’s reunion: June 9–11, 2023. The special focus will be on the classes ending in ’3s and ’8s, but all are welcome!

Jill Karanian ’81, Kathy Kaae ’82, Heather Coysh Gibb ’80, Nick Gibb

Gold Key presentation

Wilda White ’75, Ken Page ’76

Steve Madow ’74, Frank Redd ’74, Sam Getz ’75

Colleen Fay, Emilia Strazdis ’16, Piper Harrod ’16

Geza Csank ’93, Amanda Strate Csank ’93, Brett Torrey ’85

Olivia Greene ’16, Julie Donnenfeld ’15, Brianna Bermingham ’16, Kira Tierney ’16

50th Reunion group

5th Reunion group

DEDICATED VOLUNTEER RECEIVES THOMAS PARKMAN CUSHING ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD

Roger Brooks ’69 “Bleeds Purple”

The Thomas Parkman Cushing Alumni Service Award honors an alum who goes above and beyond — “who displays extraordinary commitment, dedication, passion, and service for Cushing Academy, and to the betterment of society.”

This year the honoree was Roger Brooks ’69. Brooks served on the Alumni Council from 2013 to 2019, even stepping in for a period as interim chair. As a class agent, he worked tirelessly to create a very tight-knit class. Brooks and Robert Young ’69 were instrumental in the fundraising efforts for their 50th reunion in 2019, raising about $25,000 from their classmates. When his Alumni Council term ended, Brooks offered to serve on other committees. Beyond these roles, Brooks checks in at least once or twice a month with the alumni team at Cushing, always willing to help in any way. He is also a positive presence on Cushing’s social media platforms, engaging

regularly. Especially before the pandemic, he and his wife were regulars on campus for events and games. “This award is for somebody who’s a true Cushing Penguin, who eats, sleeps, drinks, and breathes the Cushing Penguin spirit. They bleed purple,” says Brett Torrey ’85, director of alumni relations. “And Roger definitely does that.”

“Great weekend! Looking forward to next year!! Wonderful to see old friends and make many new ones.”

—ROBIN LOCKWOOD HALL ’78

What you had — and more.

FOR LESLIE VINCENT ’71, a Cushing education meant endless opportunities:

Thriving on the field hockey, basketball, tennis, and lacrosse teams. Dance and drama programs that launched a lifetime love of summer stock theater. An exchange program in Switzerland that transformed her into an independent and confident young woman. Friends who are a part of her life to this day.

Her Cushing education required sacrifice. Her mother, who never finished high school herself, worked a second job to give her daughter something better. For Leslie, her annual gift to Cushing is about giving to the next generation.

“I just feel that I was so lucky to have that experience at Cushing. You want what you had for today’s kids — and more. I don’t have one word to describe it, quite honestly, except for wow, and thank you.”

—LESLIE VINCENT ’71

Contact Brett Torrey ’85 at brtorrey@cushing.org to learn more about the Cushing Alumni Council today!

ALUMNI COUNCIL TRANSITIONS TO NEW LEADERSHIP Calling All Penguins!

Reunion weekend marked a transition in leadership for one of Penguin Nation’s key organizations. Valerie Bono-Bunker ’97 stepped down from being the Alumni Council chair after three and a half years. A two-year term is more typical, but the pandemic put things in a holding pattern. Director of Alumni Relations Brett Torrey ’85 praised Val’s leadership, passion, and drive throughout this unusual period. The new chair is Chelsea Cummings Koski ’03 (pictured left). Koski plans to work to grow the council numbers and also expand on the work of the council to engage as many members of Penguin Nation as possible.

Alumni who are interested in joining the council are invited to reach out to Torrey or any other member of the Alumni Council for more details about the expectations and responsibilities of the position.

CURRENT MEMBERS OF CUSHING’S ALUMNI COUNCIL

Chelsea Cummings Koski ’03, Chair Elliott Ventura ’78, Vice Chair David Nickless ’70, Secretary Valerie Bono-Bunker ’97, Past Chair Robin Lockwood Hall ’78

Kathleen Marlow ’99

Hayley Moore ’04

David Nevins ’16

Mary O’Neill ’13

Damon Tyson ’86 Marina Vernon ’07

Chelsea Cummings Koski ’03

Landmark Lowe Hall Celebrates 132 Years in Style

IMPROVEMENTS BRING NEW LIFE TO LANDMARK BUILDING

Lowe Hall has enjoyed a storied history at the heart of Cushing Academy. Built in 1890, it is one of the four original buildings at Cushing and one of only two that remain today. Improvements to the facility completed last summer are designed to ensure it continues to serve the school well in the years to come.

YESTERDAY

Lowe exists thanks to the generosity of Abraham T. Lowe, an Ashburnham native. Dr. Lowe was born in 1796 and attended Dartmouth College, earning a medical degree, according to the sesquicentennial magazine, Cushing Yesterday and Today. He came home to Ashburnham and set up practice with his father, also named Abraham. For a period, Dr. Lowe also ran an apothecary shop on Court Street in Boston.

Dr. Lowe was engaged in his community. He served in the state

legislature and also as the president of several banks. He was also one of Cushing’s original trustees, starting in 1865 and continuing until his death in 1889. Books from his personal collection were some of the first books in Cushing’s library.

Over the past 132 years, Lowe, located off Academy Road, just across from the Main Building, has served as a girls’ dorm (actress Bette Davis ’26 once lived there), a boys’ dorm, an infirmary, and a dining hall. Originally the building included 21 steam-heated rooms. An

editorial in an 1889 Breeze characterized the residence as “luxuriated in its plush furniture and fine paintings, its broad staircase and its marble flooring.”

Lowe Hall stood where buildings around it failed. A fire destroyed Cushing’s original Main Building in 1893. The community gathered at Lowe as the fire smoldered. In 1938, it stood through a hurricane that devastated Long Island and the New England shoreline, although its chimneys were destroyed. It has been remodeled frequently over the years, including a 2015 rehab of the common room.

Because Lowe Hall was constructed so early in Cushing’s existence, its story really is the story of Cushing.

—Cushing Yesterday and Today, 2016

TODAY

A renovation this summer brought new lighting, new doors, and new wood-look vinyl flooring in the student rooms. The biggest change was for the bathrooms, which have been totally gutted and rebuilt with modern sinks, subway wall tiles, new tile on the floors, and full-size showers.

Andrea Bono-Bunker, Val Bono-Bunker ’97, and Rachel Dellheim ’97 take a moment to reminisce at Reunion. See more about Reunion on page 44.

▼ Ray Freeman writes, “Had a great ski season. Mary and I logged 20 days at Vail, Steamboat Springs, and Mammoth Mountain just before celebrating birthday #88. I still remember Henry Hunt trying to persuade me that cross-country skiing was fun, but I’m clearly a downhill kind of guy.”

Cushing and with the rest of the class of 1953! I would love to have news of other classmates.”

1957

Ted Robbins writes, “At the age of 84, on April 4, 2022, playing golf with my wife, Mary, riding in the cart, I shot a 41 — the par for the 9 holes is 36. I had 4 pars and 4 bogies at the Pease Country Club in nearby Portsmouth, NH. I used a Calloway Driver, Taylor-made irons, and an Odyssey putter.”

1958

▼ Caryl Burton Wright Minor and Mike Severance and his wife, Cindy, had their annual meetand-greet in Vero Beach, FL.

1966

Ned Benton is a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and serves as the president of the Faculty Senate. He was the chair of the Department of Public Management for more than 20 years. From 2003 to 2018, he also served as the compliance monitor in United States of America v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. As the monitor he provided independent reports to the Federal Court on compliance with a consent decree about youth corrections in Puerto Rico. Ned is the co-director, with Professor Judy-Lynne Peters, of the Northeast Slavery Records Index (nesri.commons.gc.cuny.edu).

1953

Virginia Hanscom Rugeley writes, “Hello to all. My husband and I are now residents in the independent living section of Edgewood Summit, a senior living community in the capital city of WV. We still have our cars and are still driving; we are vaccinated and boosted against COVID; and we are staying in touch with our three children and seven grandchildren while bemoaning the fact that the COVID pandemic doesn’t let us do much traveling. I am still in touch with classmates Paula Heslin Nelson and Diane Cummings Hill. We would love to get back to New England if the world ever does away with this blasted virus! Hope all is well at

1964

Dave Stiller writes, “I am alive and well living in Santa Monica, CA, with frequent trips to my ranch in Sedona, AZ. I had a wonderful lunch with Head of School Dr. Bertin last winter during his trip to Southern California. I am very encouraged about the leadership of Cushing and its future.”

This resource is an online searchable compilation of records that identify individual enslaved persons and enslavers in New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey; records name individual slave owners and enslaved people. He lives in Larchmont, NY, with his wife, Judith Silberstein. They have three children and six grandchildren.

1969

Gillian Brown Bunker was featured with fellow artist Cheri Sampson at CURRENTS 826 on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, NM last summer (currentsnewmedia.org/ 826-canyon).

Penguin FACTS

> Penguins weigh anywhere from 2lbs to 80lbs!

> Penguins have flippers not wings.

> One of the biggest threats to penguins is climate change.

> The black and white coloring of the penguin is actually for camouflage.

> Penguins live 15–20 years.

> Penguins eat krill.

> Each penguin has a unique call.

1971

◀ Susan Bieley Chadwick recently became a Court Appointed Special Advocate/ guardian ad litem volunteer in New Hampshire, after completing 40 hours of training. CASAs advocate for children in the foster care system who were removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. When cases have court hearings, CASAs represent the best interests of the children through detailed reports based on ongoing observations of the children, and information gathered from teachers, foster families, and doctors and through monthly visits with the kids themselves. There are CASA organizations in most every state, and the need is great — it’s a meaningful way to give back!

1972

Katherine Keniston writes, “I am happy to report I am happily retired and going on a once-in-alifetime cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2 — 28 days transatlantic and back and the Norwegian fjords. I enjoyed my 50th Cushing reunion this summer!”

Sandy Peacock writes, “What a great reunion! The events were well planned and well attended. The Cushing Academy of 2022 is a far cry from 1972 and all was on display. Everyone should see today’s campus. Thanks to Brett Torrey ’85 and everyone else in the Advancement Office!”

1974

In May 2022, Atim George led a discussion with Aurelia Brazeal, retired U.S. Ambassador to Federated States of Micronesia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Sponsored by Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change as part of their Writing for Justice

series, the discussion was focused on the challenge of reimagining leadership in the 21st century through the lens of African American Female Foreign Service Officers (AFFSOs). Atim describes herself as a global citizen profoundly committed to peace and racial justice. With 30 years of experience in international affairs, Atim has visited 50 countries on five continents. Her art and scholarship reflect her vision, values, and commitment to harmonious, sustainable living on earth. A dedicated lifelong learner, Atim has attended both traditional academic institutions (brick) as well as hybrid academic programs (click), and she has successfully completed rigorous scholarly programs in both environments. A graduate of Antioch University, Atim’s dissertation journey involved a personally rewarding and academically rigorous interdisciplinary program of study, research, and practice. Her dissertation, “Generative Leadership and the Life of Aurelia Erskine Brazeal, a Trailblazing African American Female Foreign Service Officer,” was published in 2020. Her research revealed,

inter alia, that generative leaders embody and express a prosocial disposition, compassion, strategic vision, and clarity of purpose. Atim has long had an interest in the transcendent and contemplative practices. This interest is complemented by her study of narrative inquiry, storytelling, and arts-based research (ABR) methodologies.

1979

John Benton graduated from Boston University in 1983 and spent 15 years in medical sales at Verimed Inc. and 15 years as an insurance agent with Allstate Insurance. John married in February 1994 and his two children recently graduated from college. John is retired and living in Florida.

1983

Jim Kleefield writes, “I’m now working as a canine coach at Dogtopia in Stamford, CT; I also announce for a hit weekly radio show, “The Way Home with Laura Smith,” which airs in Michiana on 953 FM Sundays and on Mondays on WGCA AM in Greenwich, CT.”

SEND US YOUR News!

Please send your news, notes, and photos to be included in the next issue of Cushing Today. Professional milestones, family news, fun facts, mini CA reunions — let your fellow Penguins know what you’ve been up to!

Email your submissions to advancement@cushing.org. Be sure to include your full name and class year!

Join the Penguin Nation Facebook group by searching for “Cushing Academy Penguin Nation” or visiting facebook.com/groups/CAPenguinNation. Request to join, a member of our Advancement Team will approve, and you’ll be in touch with almost 3,000 other members of Penguin Nation.

1984

Sheila Caldwell writes, “I am living in Potomac, MD, with my four kids. It’s a happy chaos. I work at NIH and feel blessed that I get to do work that I love and that makes a difference in the world. I was very happy to be at Reunion 2022 with awesome people. Penguins rule.”

power of Cushing Academy

Sarah Felter Walsh writes, “Living in West Newbury, MA, enjoying my fifth year in private practice as a mental health counselor. It’s wonderful to be back on campus on a regular basis and see my daughter (Class of ’24) experience the amazing opportunities Cushing has to offer.”

Congratulations to Lieutenant Commander Broward Maryan, who was transferred to Defense Logistics Agency – Distribution Depot San Diego as the Executive Officer on June 15, 2022.

Chelsea Cummings Koski and her family, Kevin, Vivienne (5) and Emma (2), moved to Annapolis, MD, after many years in Washington, DC. Chelsea is excited to be the new chair of the Cushing Academy Alumni Council and reconnecting with many of you.

Congratulations to Sara Lamson, who recently received an honorary doctorate’s degree in finance from the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

▶ Shawn May writes, “My wife Alexandra and I welcomed our son Xander into the world on June 14. My wife and I married in 2021; we originally met through my roommate while I was attending Cushing Academy and she was at Dana Hall School in 2002.”

▲ Ashley Zimmerman writes, “After more than 10 years working as a graphic designer in children’s educational publishing, I made a career change. In May 2022, I graduated from Simmons University where I earned a master’s degree in social work.

In June, I joined the primary care behavioral health team at Family Health Center of Worcester, MA, where I specialize in perinatal, infant, and early childhood mental health.”

◀ Congratulations to Rachel Sommers and her husband Marc, who welcomed baby Roman on June 15, 2022.

Events

The coming year brings more remarkable opportunities for Penguin Nation to gather together. Keep up to date on all Cushing events: cushing.org/events

> January 21 A Celebration of Cushing Hockey Join us for games, an open skate, and special recognition of the 25th anniversary of both boys’ and girls’ New England Championships.

>

April 25 World Penguin Day / Cushing Day of Giving

The Cushing Day of Giving is an opportunity for families, friends, and alumni from all over the world to help support the people and programs that make us Cushing by donating directly to the Academy.

>

>

◀ Congratulations to Courtney Chrusciel Davidson on the birth of her son, Colton, who was born on March 15 at 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and 21.5 inches long.

Paige Cushing writes, “To the memories!”

June 9–11 Cushing Academy Reunion

While we are especially celebrating class years ending in 3 and 8, all alumni are welcome!

July 17 Golf Tournament

Our 10th Annual Cushing Academy Golf Tournament will once again be held at the beautiful Ridge Club in Sandwich, Mass. For additional information, including sponsorship opportunities, please contact the Advancement Office at (978) 827-7400.

2012

▶ Elsie Eastman released her first studio album in October 2022 of original songs. Titled Boston, the album is a celebration of finding a home in a new place, being young and queer in the city, making mistakes, finding new friends, and attempting to be an adult. Elsie crowdfunded almost $10,300 to create this album — some Penguins donated! Since winning the Eva Fletcher Sweeney Prize in chorus, singing in the chamber choir, participating in the poetry club, and performing in the musicals on stage at Cushing, Elsie has translated her love for writing and singing into multiple music releases, but this is the first one recorded in a studio with a sound engineer, backing band, and full production.

Eva Lu writes, “I will forever cherish the memories, the love, and so much hope Cushing brings into my life.”

2013

John Kelly moved to Miami three years ago with his golden retriever and his fiancée, who he met in college. John works for Rivian, an EV company.

▲ Nikki Streeter Wilson and her husband Braedon welcomed baby Hadlee Lyn a month early on July 2nd at 6:40 pm. Hadlee came into the world 5 pounds, 9 ounces, and 18 inches long. Everyone is doing well.

Who am I?

ANSWER: Bold and strong, I am the bronze “School Girl” statue. I stand physically at the center of Cushing Academy and also metaphorically at the heart of this school.

Although I was built by eight students in 2005, I represent all the girls who have attended Cushing since the vision of Thomas Parkman Cushing led to the establishment of New England’s first coeducational boarding school in 1865.

I have a design similar to the “School Boy” statue that has been at the base of School Street since 1913.

Add your legacy to the Cushing Story

Thomas Parkman Cushing created his legacy when he founded Cushing Academy over one hundred and fifty years ago. Through his last will and testament he expressed his desire to establish a school for “rising and future generations.” Because of that gesture his story lives on in the generations of students that followed, their lives transformed by their education at Cushing.

When you include Cushing Academy in your long-term plans, you add to that story and create your own legacy.

Be a part of our story.

For inquiries and details please contact Greg Pollard, Director of Advancement grpollard@cushing.org or (978) 827-7400

39 School Street

Ashburnham, MA 01430

SOFTBALL SOARS TO VICTORY!

The Penguins capped a perfect 20–0 season with a tight 1–0 victory over St. Luke’s School last spring. In his ninth year as coach, Aaron Santos ’06 led the softballers to the Western New England Class B Championship. The players received a hero’s welcome, met by cheering crowds of fellow Penguins, when they arrived back to the waddle.