Roots & Wings - 2022

roots & wings

THE HEART OF ARTS AT TGS

MORE COMPETENCE, MORE CONFIDENCE

The essential benefits of the arts at TGS

Nick Perry P’27, P’30

Head of School

As an independent school, TGS can make choices that aren’t driven by state mandates. We hold true to our mission—and part of implementing that mission is to give our students a strong foundation in theater, visual art, and music. Our charge today is how best to continue that tradition, given all the benefits we recognize of an emphasis on the arts.

From an early age, our students take part in skits, plays, and public speaking at All School Meetings and in their classrooms. Performance offers so much that is different from typical classroom learning. Those who might have trouble reading or doing math might be naturally theatrical and comfortable on stage. Giving those students an area of competence translates into more confidence in language arts and math. My own kids are so proud of what they’ve done already on the stage at TGS. They’ve had fun, learned new skills, been recognized by peers and adults in our community, and learned to laugh at themselves when they goof up.

After a two-year hiatus, live theater returned to our stage earlier this year when Jessa Rowan P’29 directed Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic (see article on page 12). When Jessa came on as our eighth grade teacher in 2020, she also became our Upper School theater director. It’s been a great boon to the school to have such a masterful director on our full-time staff.

The seventh and eighth grade musical has a long history at TGS. In 2022, we branched out a bit: Puffs is not a musical. Covid prompted us to look differently at how we do theater. Our students had a greater role in designing and building the sets, because we couldn’t have volunteer parents in our school en masse. Students who opted not to be on stage demonstrated tremendous proficiency in the lighting and sound booth.

Chinón Maria “Chichi” Mitre ’99 returned to TGS as our art teacher in 2020 and has created a phenomenal program that explores art across the globe and through the ages (see article on page 8). When Chichi was a student at TGS, art was a safe haven for her thanks to her art teacher, TGS co-founder Dottie Richardson (see remembrance on page 22). It touches a chord in me to see the students’ faces in Chichi’s art classes, seeing their pride in what they do. And then to see their art on the walls! It’s a really beautiful thing to see the kids gaining that confidence. We are so blessed to have Chichi.

Covid posed particular challenges to our music program. We switched from recorder to violin, which made sense not only Covid-wise but pedagogically, and we formed a fruitful partnership with the Brattleboro Music Center. This year, we’re excited to bring our chorus program back and to gather for more concerts and performances.

A lot has changed in recent years—but some things stay the same, and The Grammar School’s deep commitment to the arts is one of them. I can’t wait to see what our students create this year! p

PRESCHOOL PROGRAM

Catie Hutchings, Head Preschool Teacher

B.A. Prescott College, Montessori Elementary Teacher Certification, Khalsa Montessori Teacher Training Program

Catie lives with her two children, Keala (TGS third grader) and Neirin (TGS pre-K), and their kitten, Lucky. Name one thing that helped prepare you for your current role.

I worked at an amazing Early Childhood Education program in Tucson, Arizona, for several years, where I was a part of a teaching cohort with mentors in the field.

Preschool Expansion

TGS added a new preschool program for 2- and 3-year-olds last year, and the program previously known as the preschool became the pre-kindergarten program. Catie and Arielle came on as TGS’s new preschool teachers. Ken Brautigam continues to direct the pre-K program, with Tori Mitchell as assistant pre-K teacher.

What’s your favorite thing to do outdoors?

I love running, cross-country skiing, and swimming in local swimming holes.

What are three of your favorite things?

Favorite type of music: ’80s and ’90s, jigs, swing, Frank Sinatra, or anything I can dance to

Favorite pastimes: playing guitar, playing games with friends, laughing, being in nature

Favorite places: ocean, forests, mountaintops

What do you love most about TGS?

I love the dear people at TGS. The community here has heart and I love it.

Catie Hutchings

Arielle Descoteau, Assistant Preschool Teacher

B.A. Sarah Lawrence College (Creative Writing, Film History), M.S.Ed. Sarah Lawrence College (Early Childhood and Childhood Education)

Arielle lives in Bellows Falls with her husband, who hails from Manchester, UK.

Name one thing that helped prepare you for your current role.

I taught in both independent and public school settings, primarily at the preschool level. I worked alongside teachers whose breadth of experience and varied approaches to early childhood learning have provided me with a strong foundation for my own practice, which I continue to build upon at TGS.

What’s your favorite thing to do outdoors?

I love to hike in nature.

What are three of your favorite things?

Cooking and baking delicious vegan food

Sharing new music with friends and family

Word games

What do you love most about TGS?

I enjoy being part of a supportive and vibrant community that places its students at the forefront.

NEW FACULTY Jane Mellow, Fourth Grade Teacher

B.A. University of New Hampshire, M.S.Ed. University of New England

Jane lives in Brattleboro with her husband Joel, two college-aged daughters (when they are home), three dogs, a leopard gecko named Moose, and a dwarf hamster named Biscuit.

Name one thing that helped prepare you for your current role.

Early in my teaching career, I left education to pursue personal interests and ended up cycling across the U.S., working as a PADI DiveMaster before managing a dive shop in the Keys, living aboard my own 24’ sailboat, then sailing from Key West to the Chesapeake Bay. Recently my husband and I framed in and finished a large basement room to be his at-home office, using only YouTube video tutorials to guide us. Life is constantly reminding me that learning has many ways,

Arielle Descoteau

Jane Mellow

shapes, and forms—it does not look the same for everyone—and that there are all kinds of intelligences. As a teacher, it is my job to help kids find their own paths. What’s your favorite thing to do outdoors?

Sit quietly, listen, and look. What are three of your favorite things?

Favorite book: any collection of poems by Mary Oliver

Favorite food: stone crabs, anything Cuban

Favorite music right now: Phish

What do you love most about TGS?

TGS is a place that allows students to be themselves as they grow and learn who they are as a person. Rather than grooming students to fit into a cookie-cutter model of standard expectations, TGS encourages students to explore, create, and engage in ways that will reveal their unique attributes to themselves and to our community.

Leah Toffolon, Fifth Grade Teacher

B.A. Reed College, M.Ed. University of Vermont

Leah lives with her husband Nate, their son Llewyn (TGS kindergartener), and their twins Birk and Oliver (TGS preschoolers) in the woods of Westminster West.

Name one thing that helped prepare you for your current role.

Investigating the natural and cultural history of our place through traditional research, oral history, and forest forensics is something that I have been fortunate to share with students throughout my 15 years of teaching.

What’s your favorite thing to do outdoors?

My favorite thing to do outdoors is to ramble down old dirt roads and trails on foot, on bike, or on skis, and get a little bit lost.

What are three of your favorite things?

Favorite meal: fresh pasta with pesto, garden tomatoes, and mozzarella

Favorite book: Owl Moon

Favorite pastime: playing outside with my family

What do you love most about TGS?

The Grammar School community feels like a nurturing family. I love the kindness, playfulness, curiosity, and independent spirit of these students.

NEW STAFF

Melanie Brubaker Danzi, Director of Development

B.A. Clark University (Sociology), M.A. SIT Graduate Institute (Intercultural Communication and Training)

Melanie lives in Dummerston with her husband, two children, dog, and chickens. Melanie’s daughter Josephine (Joey) is a kindergartener at TGS, and her son Jude joined the preschool in Fall 2022.

Name one thing that helped prepare you for your current role.

I spent 15 years managing Leadership and Social Change exchange programs for youth from around the world. I have experience in community building, grant writing, and events coordination. What’s your favorite thing to do outdoors?

Having two little children, we love to find and discuss the signs of each changing season around our home and neighborhood.

What are three of your favorite things?

1. I am an avid coffee enthusiast. (I once took a road trip focused on coffee businesses with community-based initiatives!)

2. I garden with great intention and not much skill.

3. There is nothing more perfect than a Vermont river in the summer!

What do you love most about TGS?

I have loved watching my child’s confidence and sense of self develop over the two years she has been at TGS. This school really promotes a sense of wonder and curiosity in our children—about themselves, their feelings and thoughts, and the world around them. I have also so valued the community of parents and friends at TGS. The pandemic has made it more difficult, but meeting other parents and building family friendships has been so important for our sense of connection in this time.

The faculty and staff featured here joined in 2021. In Fall 2022, TGS welcomed Dave Steckler (sixth grade), Amy Cann (music), Erica Schwabach (PSD), and several others in new or part-time roles. Look for profiles of them in next year's issue!

Leah Toffolon

Melanie Brubaker Danzi

Sixth graders conduct water testing at Sacketts Brook.

Chichi's JOURNEY AT TGS

CHINÓN MARIA “CHICHI” MITRE ’99 credits The Grammar School with inspiring two of her lifelong passions: art and alpine skiing. Her love of skiing led her to Stratton Mountain School, then to Montana State University in Bozeman, where she was captain of the D1 ski team. After college, Chichi pursued a career as a professional ski racer, then turned her boundless energy toward her art career. Soon she was enmeshed in the New York art scene, making a living as a largescale muralist.

Now Chichi has entered a new phase in her career: In 2020, she returned to Putney to become The Grammar School’s art teacher. Chichi has created a comprehensive curriculum, Art Journey, that uses art as a lens to explore the world’s cultures and civilizations. Students study the Americas, the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East, medieval and Renaissance Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“When I took the job, I wanted to tie in what TGS does so well: creating global citizens,” she said. “Being in Vermont doesn’t mean we have an insular view of the world.”

to African art than just masks”

Art Journey is made up of a series of one-month units, each focusing on a particular region and culture. All students in grades 1-8 study the same part of the world at the same time, leading to community-wide conversations and, over the course of multiple years, serving to deepen students’ knowledge about other cultures.

“What I hope is that Art Journey teaches students that there is more to African art than just masks, more to Japanese art than calligraphy, more to medieval Europe than castles and unicorns,” Chichi said. “The curriculum is designed to build each year and explore the full extent of what an area of the world has to offer. Every unit begins with exploration and storytelling, so that each student can grasp and understand the context. First explore, then discover, then sketch, then make.”

Chichi leads students in exploring an array of methods and media, such as painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, graphic design, textiles, and architecture. As students get older, they revisit these media, trying out more complicated techniques each time. Chichi trusts her students to use professional-grade art materials, a privilege she herself had as a Grammar School student.

“Dottie Richardson, who unfortunately just passed, was a mentor of mine,” Chichi said. “She treated us young students as real artists and let us work with materials that most adults don’t get to use—jewelry wheels, Exacto knives, real stained glass. I think giving that opportunity to kids was brilliant.”

“Art is how we explore ourselves and our world”

“More

Chichi in the classroom

“Since the beginning of time, art has been critical to the human experience,” Chichi said. “Art is how we explore ourselves and our world, how we respond to everything around us. Art should be taken as seriously as learning arithmetic. It is foundational to the strength of societies.”

Chichi offered examples of some of her favorite Art Journey projects, such as the second graders’ study of the Bwa people in Burkina Faso. “The Bwa people make beautiful ceremonial wooden masks with incredible geometric designs,” Chichi said. “These masks are abstract and powerful. We talk about appropriation: These masks are not what they wear for Halloween. They are sacred, and we need to be respectful.”

Third graders learn about the Incas by hand-dyeing wool and learning about the importance of textiles to Incan culture. “When the conquistadors came, they were looking for gold, but they didn’t realize that textiles to the Incas were worth more than gold,” Chichi said.

Sixth and seventh graders study Benin bronzes and practice metal embossing. Chichi explains the tragic history of the bronzes, thousands of which were stolen by the British from Nigeria in the late 19th century. Students learn the term “provenance” as it relates to stolen art and discuss whether the bronzes should be returned to Nigeria.

Eighth graders are tasked with building models of Brunellesci’s dome. “How Brunellesci made it is still a mystery,” Chichi said. “He burned all his papers to keep it a secret.” Chichi was astonished at the beauty of last year’s eighth graders’ models of the elaborate dome. “People in universities are not even making such great work!” Chichi said. “My students are incredible.”

The whole school turns to the study of global contemporary art in the spring, and all classes take part in two school-wide art projects per year. Students have built a stone labyrinth based on the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth, painted a mural of a map of the world on a wall near the Lower School soccer field, and constructed a dragon wing sculpture from recycled materials.

“I have one student who does not love creating art, but he tells me all the time, ‘I love your class because I love history.’ My goal is not necessarily to make great artists with technical skills—my goal is to have students understand and appreciate the art world.”

“We need to be respectful”

“You’re never too young to understand big terms”

Art Journey begins in first grade, but Chichi’s work also includes younger students. Pre-kindergarteners study individual artists, like Frida Kahlo, and kindergarteners learn about art movements, from Impressionism to Pop Art.

“One of my kindergarteners looked at something the other day and said, ‘That’s Abstract Expressionism!’ My jaw just dropped. I’m a firm believer that you’re never too young to understand big terms. If they can remember the names of all the dinosaurs, then they can learn the term ‘Abstract Expressionism.’”

Collaborative projects help pre-K and kindergarten students learn how to work together. “Young students often get a sense of ownership with their artwork, which is great, but then they don’t want anyone to touch it,” Chichi said. “That’s fine, but it’s also important to learn how to create together, as an ensemble, and it’s great to instill that starting at a really young age.”

Ultimately, Chichi intends to offer a version of her Art Journey curriculum to art teachers outside TGS. She also plans to return to her professional art practice, on hold for now after the recent birth of her first child, Lucián. She shares content on her YouTube channel and on Instagram under the name Chinón Maria Studios, but she aspires to be on screen in a bigger forum.

“Having my own PBS show is the dream,” she said. “I could be like the Levar Burton of the art world. But I’d still teach at TGS!”

Chichi looks forward to sending Lucián to her alma mater in a few years and letting him experience Art Journey. “This curriculum I’m building—in a way, it’s for my son,” she said. “The Grammar School was my home when I was younger, and it’s my home now. The community is so supportive and beautiful. I have never loved anything more than what I do right now.” p

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LIVE THEATER RETURNS TO TGS

The

OPPORTUNITIES Are Endless

Ask any group of alumni from the past few decades about their peak experiences at TGS, and it won’t be long before someone mentions the musical. Even in conversation, you can hear the mythical status those words carry: The Musical.

Peter Pan, Annie, Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, Into the Woods, Happy Together, The Lion King, and many more. Music director Alli Lubin produced TGS’s musicals from 1994 through 2020, in partnership with a rotating cast of directors from the wider community. Alli retired in Spring 2020 after 27 years at TGS, ending her tenure by producing a digital variety show version of The Sound of Music during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jessa Rowan was among those who directed a Grammar School musical during those years, helming a joyful production of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown in 2017. In Fall 2020, Jessa joined TGS full-time as the eighth grade homeroom teacher, seventh

and eighth grade humanities teacher, and theater director. TGS was able to offer safe in-person instruction for the entire 2020-21 school year, but grades were separated into “pods,” and singing together was impossible.

In Spring 2021, the seventh and eighth graders worked in small groups to create short films through a program Jessa called FLY (Film Literature Youth). The students screened the films for their families at Next Stage Arts in Putney. It was a great first step in bringing the performing arts back to TGS, but Jessa knew that she wanted to mount a full theatrical production on the TGS stage in 2022 if possible.

“I wanted to pick a play that was ensem-

ble-based,” Jessa said, “with lots of different characters, not just one or two leads. I wanted to do a show that had a really strong moral, a really important meaning—not just for the students but for the audience.”

The show that fit the bill was Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic by Matt Cox, an unofficial retelling of the Harry Potter story from the perspective of the Puffs that premiered in 2015 and played off-Broadway for several years.

“Puffs teaches us that everyone is a hero in their own story and can leave a legacy, regardless of which house they’re sorted into,” Jessa said. “The play has such heart behind it. There’s a theme of the underdogs coming forth—feeling that they had the ability to find their voices even when no one heard them, to be seen even when they weren’t in the spotlight, that they had a purpose in the story. So many of us feel like we aren’t perfect, that we are shunned from society because of our imperfections, but the Puffs are embraced for their imperfections. I love that.”

Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic is an unofficial retelling of the Harry Potter story.

Positivity is key to Jessa’s approach to directing youth theater. “I believe in being extremely positive as a director. Students thrive on that, and then they throw even more energy into it, and that just makes it better. Putting their performances in a positive light helps young people rise to their own light.”

While TGS students have long been involved backstage as well as on stage, Jessa took this student-centered approach a step further. “I wanted the kids to be in charge, so that they felt ownership,” she said.

Students designed costumes, chose music, built puppets for a scene that required them, designed and painted the sets, carved wooden wands as props, and ran the lights and sound board on their own.

Puffs is not a musical, but Jessa doesn’t rule out directing musicals again in the future. “It’s really important to pick a show that fits what the kids want to do,” she said. “This eighth grade wanted a comedy. If there’s a class in the future that wants a musical, then I don’t see why not. I would love to have a group of students write their own plays and put on a one-act festival. I’d love to do a 24-hour play festival.”

This student-led approach doesn’t just apply to the stage; Jessa loves personalizing her humanities curriculum to her classes. “Last

year’s eighth graders wanted to learn about feminism, so we did a feminism unit in their humanities class,” she said. “Will I do the same feminism unit with the next class? Possibly. It’s more work, but it’s more exciting for me, seeing what students’ needs and interests are and how I can best address them creatively.”

Many of last year’s seventh and eighth graders were brand new to theater, and all of them were emerging from several years of pandemic restrictions—years in which most people didn’t even have the opportunity to see a play, much less perform in one. Students learned how to project their voices, memorize their lines, “cheat out” to the audience (angling themselves outward when talking to each other on stage), and remember their blocking. Over many months of rehearsals, they grew as students and as actors. In the end, they put on a spectacular series of performances that had packed audiences laughing, crying, and cheering. All of this was gratifying and wonderful, but to Jessa, the outcome mattered far less than the experience.

“In youth theater, there’s always a tension between process and product. These students are proud of themselves personally and proud as a group. If you have done that, you have won. Of course it’s a plus that the audience enjoyed it, too. But at the

end of the day, youth theater is about youth empowerment.”

Months later, kindergarteners and first graders were still acting out scenes from Puffs on the playground, as so many young Grammar School students have before them. Along with other beloved traditions like All School Meeting, the buddy program, the eighth grade Capstone Trip, and the Medieval Faire, the spring play is one of the building blocks of the school’s community, forging connections across grades and creating a sense that a Grammar School education builds toward something thrilling, whether your dream is to lead the birthday song at All School Meeting, mentor a younger child, run the apothecary at the Faire, travel far from home, or stand in a spotlight.

“My mind is just starting to percolate with the possibilities now that we’re able to perform live again, and the opportunities are endless,” Jessa said. “It’s really, really exciting to be doing theater again.” p

Special thanks to assistant director and stage manager Mikaela Marmion and the parents and alumni who helped make Puffs possible— and especially to the 2021-22 seventh and eighth graders, who brought live theater back to TGS with gusto, bravery, determination, and joy!

Postcards from Puerto Rico

The graduating eighth grade class’s TGS journey culminated in a Capstone Trip to Puerto Rico this past May. Led by seventh grade teacher Hop Hopkins and Admissions Director Alex Bodel, the group spent eight days exploring the diverse ecological and cultural landscape of Puerto Rico. Visiting the Spanish fortress of El Morro (1), hiking El Yunque, sea kayaking at night in a bioluminescent bay, helping to protect leatherback sea turtles (2), and joining scientists for a field visit to a bat cave (3) were just a few of their amazing adventures. The group spent three days near the central mountainside town of Adjuntas, where they experienced farm living firsthand, planting coffee (4) and preparing greenhouses for cultivation. Through the support of the Capstone Fund, we hope to continue offering this trip for years to come!

The group gathered in front of Fuente Raíces, a fountain built to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Spain’s “discovery” of the New World. Lonely Planet notes: “The fountain depicts bronze gods and goddesses of Taíno, European, and African descent to represent the racial and ethnic roots of the Puerto Rican people.”

Leaving our mark at the farm in Adjuntas

Learning how to paddleboard before trying the real thing

Field trips are back!

Venturing out into the wider world has always been an important part of a Grammar School education. Many alumni have had life-changing experiences on trips to Ecuador, Quebec City, Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Students have delved into caves in New York State and seen whales spouting off Cape Ann. Day and overnight trips to nearby historic sites, farms, orchards, wilderness areas, and nursing homes are powerful learning experiences, too.

All of our field trips had to be put on hold at the start of the pandemic, but in 2021-22, we found ways to bring them back safely. In addition to our new eighth grade Capstone Trip to Puerto Rico, here are some of the other field trips we took last year.

1 Covid prevented Hop Hopkins from taking his seventh graders to Mount Moosilauke in Fall 2020, but he didn’t want them to miss out on this epic experience—so in Fall 2021, he led a combined group of seventh and eighth graders up the 4,802-foot peak, where they gamely endured high winds, fog, wintry temperatures, and rain.

2 Annie Schulzinger ’s third graders visited Billings Farm and Museum in the spring to meet farm animals, tour the barns and exhibits, and learn about traditional farm life in Vermont.

3 Annie’s third graders joined Eve McDermott’s second graders for a trip to the Wapping Schoolhouse at Historic Deerfield.

4 A visit to Green Mountain Orchards is always popular, whether you’re in preschool or third grade (or even a grownup!).

5 Third through eighth graders traveled to the Brattleboro Ski Hill, Grafton Trails & Outdoor Center, and the Nelson E. Withington Skating Facility in Brattleboro for Winter Outdoor Activities (WOA) in February and March. (As always, students also did plenty of sledding, snow shoeing, cross-country skiing, and snow fort building right on our campus.)

Alumni in the Arts

CLASS CLOWN Naomi Shafer ’03 Executive Director

Clowns Without Borders makes site-specific performances (clown and circus) in refugee camps, conflict zones, and sites of natural disaster. My work is to transform places that are sites of trauma into places of laughter. In Lesvos, Greece, in 2015 and 2016, that meant transforming a life raft into a trampoline. On the Syrian border in 2016, that meant performing in a square that had previously been used for executions. In Haiti, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and The Bahamas, it meant performing in the destructive rubble of a hurricane.

Our work is not about putting a bandaid over the crisis. Clowns show a roller coaster of emotions (getting mad, laughing, falling down, crying, getting up, falling down again). We invite the audience to do the same. Often, laughter is where most of our audience joins us. For people experiencing PTSD, expressing any emotion is a critical first step towards healing. Laughter often makes way for tears. One audience member said, “The show is the first time we get to share an experience other than displacement.” On one hand, the show is about offering an experience of joy, but it’s not all “Happy Happy Happy.” Often we play with themes of getting stuck, going on a journey, or experiencing resource scarcity. We distill a part of the audience’s experience. A clown getting stuck in an umbrella becomes a metaphor for being in a building as it collapses.

I remember the day I first visited TGS. At recess, we played by the stream between the upper and lower school. I overreached and fell in, soaking my red sweatpants. I remember sitting on the hill in the sun next to Pat Thomas and drying out. Were we allowed to be playing in the stream? I don’t know. I do know that I was encouraged to explore (and then experience the natural consequences). “Failure is Funny” is one of my golden rules of clowning. It’s funny to watch someone try, try, try, and FAIL (especially to watch a grownup struggle to tie her shoes). There is also no way to learn without failing. Learning to juggle is about learning to pick up dropped balls. You have to

be resilient enough to keep going, even when the odds are against it. One of my students once said, “Naomi fails a lot as a teacher.” It’s a funny piece of praise, but it’s true. I fail both intentionally—comically—and unintentionally. For me, failing is another way of learning how far you can reach.

That reminds me of the Fifth Grade Bridge Project with Charlie Boswell. We had to build a bridge that could withstand a certain weight. We had a budget for labor and parts, and it was a lot of math. I worked very hard on my bridge. It was very elaborate and had a latticed pattern to mimic the Iron Bridge over the West River by Route 30. I painted my bridge gold. I had no understanding of physics. My bridge was 100% decorative. When it came time to test the weight of the bridge, we skipped mine. There was no way my bridge could hold weight. It was in that moment of really looking at what my classmates were doing that it clicked: “OH! That’s how you make something structurally stable.” I had been so focused on actualizing an idea, on bringing my imagination to life, that I hadn’t compared my bridge to my classmates’. Great news: Mime is all about making the invisible, visible. Life as an artist is about figuring out how to actualize your imagination.

In kindergarten, we did an activity with the pre-K. Ken Brautigam and Pat Thomas gave us each a 12” x 12” plot of land to observe. It was marked with yellow flagging tape. I have no idea how much time we actually spent doing this project, but it felt like forever. Each day (maybe) we went outside and observed our “plot.” We drew pictures of what we saw. We asked questions about what we saw or didn’t see. We had official notebooks (folded construction paper) and pencils. It was very serious, scientific work. Sometimes it was boring. Sometimes [my study partner] Eddie

and I were best of friends (A Cricket Hopped Through our Plot!); sometimes we squabbled. Anyway, that project reminds me to slow down. That sometimes the best work I can do is to observe, to reflect, to ask questions.

As I write this, on March 2, 2022, I am in the airport about to head to Iraqi Kurdistan to perform in refugee camps. Russia has just invaded Ukraine. My work focuses on using performance to help young people process complicated situations, especially related to PTSD, displacement, and war. In Iraqi Kurdistan, I’ll be performing for children who were born in refugee camps, whose parents are my age.

I was in seventh grade on 9/11. Chris Osgood told us during algebra class. One classmate started crying. I sharpened my pencil. That day, and over the coming months, Katie Tobey, Mary Heller Osgood, and Laurie Fichter made space for conversations about 9/11, the “War on Terror,” and the news. They made space to open the world to topics that were (and in some ways still are) too big to understand. I don’t know if September 18 or October 18, 2001, was The Day Laurie Canceled Class and we played kickball. I do remember that throughout seventh and eighth grade, she hung up the New York Times maps of Iraq and Afghanistan. I remember that any time I zoned out, the maps were there on the wall. There was a constant reminder that we were connected to the war, and also that we were still living our lives: making marionettes, getting ready for the musical, going to Quebec and D.C.

I don’t have a solid “aha” about this. My work is to learn about what crisis or human rights violations a community has experienced, and what makes them laugh. It’s a balance between acknowledging the trauma and also never defining a person or a group by it.

Clowns ’Without Borders, clownswithoutborders.org

Clowns Without Borders artists Naomi Shafer (top) and Leah Abel perform in Myanmar with the Mines Advisory Group

ART FOR AUDIENCES

Sarah Freeman ’92 Director of

Exhibitions

Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, brattleboromuseum.org

I remember a lot of specific art experiences at TGS very vividly! Art and making were often woven into the classroom in different ways, which was really cool. I remember learning about carding wool, spinning, and weaving on the loom in kindergarten, making clay sculptures and kachina dolls in second grade, participating in a temporary rainforest wall mural in fourth grade, and painting illuminated manuscripts in sixth grade… among many other examples. I feel very lucky to have gone to a school that celebrates the arts and creativity as an important part of personal expression and development.

As Director of Exhibitions at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, I work with artists and curators to develop and plan contemporary art exhibits. I get to do a lot of creative work: thinking about what we want to share with our

audiences, meeting artists and curators and getting excited about ideas and art, and also lots of logistical planning: coordinating the exhibition and installation schedule, figuring out how to get artwork to and from the museum safely and on time, and how to get it all up on the wall for people to come and visit.

JOY AND EXPRESSION

Liza Cassidy ’88 Artist, lizacassidyart.com

I am a visual and performing artist maintaining a longtime studio and plein air practice, as well as engagement with theater and film in both acting and directing. I make large-scale abstract collage with mixed media in my studio at the Cotton Mill in Brattleboro (my grandmother used to work the looms there), and I also paint landscapes in oils. I teach children and adults at River Gallery School in Brattleboro and collaborate with Theaterlab in New York City, directing and performing.

My first-ever museum visit, to the Clark Art Institute, was with Dottie Richardson in sixth or seventh grade. My body trembled with the scale and luminosity of those works. In class, Dottie shared Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss,” works from Picasso’s Blue Period, and Pavel Tchelitchew’s “Hide-and-Seek,” which I recently met face to face at MoMA, not having seen it since. I recognized it instantly and was taken aback by its scale and how etched in my memory it had been.

STRINGS ATTACHED

Jake Charkey ’93 Cellist, jakecharkey.com

I attended TGS for seventh and eighth grades. Mary Cay Brass was an inspiring music teacher, and I can still play most of the Morris dancing tunes on penny whistle! Dottie Richardson’s art class was invaluable to me for having an understanding of the history of visual art. I was already on the path to pursuing music pretty seriously while I was at TGS, but the overall rigor of the academics did leave a lasting impression, and I don’t recall working as hard or in as much detail academically until I got to college. French class was also very important for me. I continued to study

French seriously after TGS, lived in Montreal for several years, and have had many, many opportunities to use French in my life, both professionally and otherwise.

I’m a cellist living and working in New York City. I have formal training in both European and Indian classical music, and much of my work is connected to Indian music, either recording or playing traditional Hindustani music or as a recording artist for the Bollywood film industry. I lived and worked in Mumbai for about six years and still travel back there for work and to meet my teacher.

Dottie did not dumb down her assignments or her passion for the arts, which ignited my love and pursuit of them. French and French Chorus with Maggie Smith inspired and encouraged a level of joy and expressiveness that I still treasure and embody when performing. Chorus with Mary Cay Brass exposed us to the most stunning otherworldly harmonies that forever live in me, and that I’ve passed down to my own children. The yearly theater productions absolutely birthed my love of performing. I recall all the teachers contributing joyfully to them, including Nancy Calicchio and Chris Osgood. The Mummers’ Plays, Oliver!, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan David Rothschild taught with such humanity—affording us the respect of a peer—that his appreciation for writing and theater were entirely infectious.

Sarah Freeman (center) with artists Jennifer Mack-Watkins and Kenny Rivero outside the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center

Jake Charkey (right) at New Directions Cello Festival

Liza Cassidy in her studio

Alumni in Sports

ON THE WATER

Alumna Brooke Mooney rows at the 2021 Summer Olympics

After setting the women’s 2,000m world record on the indoor rowing machine in March 2021, former TGS student Brooke Mooney represented the United States at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, coming in fourth in the women’s eight.

Brooke and her siblings, Heather and Scott, attended The Grammar School from 2003 to 2009. Her father, Jim Mooney, was Vermont Academy’s headmaster from 1993 to 2009.

In Memoriam

September 9, 1997–April 18, 2022

Brooke started out as a cross-country skier, serving on New England's Junior National Nordic Ski team three times. She earned four top-three finishes at the U.S. Junior National Cross-Country Ski Championships and was a five-time All-American Nordic skier.

She switched to rowing while spending her senior year at Vermont Academy. She went on to the University of Washington, where her rowing team won multiple medals, including third place in the varsity 2nd eight in her freshman year and first place in the varsity eight in her junior year at the NCAA Nationals Championships. In 2018, she was named Pac12 Women’s Rowing Athlete of the Year and

received an Academic All-Pac-12 honorable mention. She majored in medical anthropology and global health at UW, with minors in environmental health and nutrition.

Congratulations, Brooke!

Leyeyo Saitoti Kipamba was born in the rural Maa'sai village of Longido, Tanzania, and moved to Townshend, Vermont, with his American parents Sarah Messenger and Paul Weber as a young child. Leyeyo joined The Grammar School in the fall of 2006. He was a member of the community beloved for his smile, his intelligence, his humor, and his kindness. Leyeyo graduated from TGS in 2012.

Friends and family gathered in August 2022 to honor and celebrate Leyeyo’s life. He was universally remembered as generous, brave, and loving, someone who made friends everywhere he went. Leyeyo was a talented and competitive athlete on the soccer field, the ice, and the ski slopes. Leyeyo remained connected with Longido throughout his life, returning with Sarah and Paul every summer, and, when he was older, with American friends to build a house for “Mama Leyeyo” and to help guide trips for Gogi Abroad.

Leyeyo brought to his TGS classmates and teachers a broader understanding of the world and the gift of his shining spirit.

Donations in Leyeyo's memory may be made to Friends for African Development (fadeastafrica.com) at 537 Cavalier Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23451.

Dorothy (Dottie) Richardson P’63, P’67, P’68, P’69, P’74, P’76, GP’02, GP’03, GP’05 June 4, 1926–March 8, 2022

Dorothy Hansson Richardson, 95, died peacefully at her home in Putney on March 8, 2022.

She was born in New York City on June 4, 1926, the daughter of Kristian Gösta Hansson and Katherine Tappan Hansson. She attended The Dalton School and graduated from Bard College. Majoring in art, she spent a memorable summer working with her mentor, the sculptor Harvey Fite, on Opus 40, his Mayan inspired landscape and sculpture garden in Saugerties, New York.

She moved with her husband, Roy (Dick) Richardson, to Putney in 1950. In 1960, they founded The Grammar School with George and Kitty Shumlin (P’69, ’70, ’74, GP ’05, ’06, ’09, ’12, GGP ’28, ’30). She worked at The Grammar School from its inception until 2000.

Starting in the office, she became the art teacher in 1966. She had a passion for developing curriculum that combined history, culture, and art, believing that every child benefited from a deep and challenging art curriculum. Her daughter Kathy Richardson (pictured at left, with Leyeyo and his class) is TGS’s longtime Upper School math teacher.

Dorothy was predeceased by her husband, Dick, and son, Peter. She leaves her children and their partners, Kathy, Elizabeth (Prentiss), Seth (Martha), Jess and John (Amy), 12 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Brooke Mooney (TGS 2003-09) Photo: USRowing

Leyeyo Saitoti Kipamba ’12

Leyeyo (front row, second from left) at TGS with his sixth grade class.

While she was at The Putney School, Celine founded Weaving for Peace in order to teach weaving to young women in Kigali, Rwanda.

Alumni Serving TGS

POSITIVELY GIVING BACK

Celine Mudahakana ’09 Teacher, TGS Trustee

I graduated from TGS in 2009. After college, I worked as a special education teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts, for four years. I am currently an instructional coach with Teach for America in Western Mass., and I am pursuing a doctoral degree in special education at UMass Amherst.

When I first came to the U.S. from Rwanda at the age of thirteen, I was an emergent bilingual learner. It was difficult for me to read and write in English. However, The Grammar School welcomed me and provided me with the supports I needed to access the curriculum. Not only did I improve my English and grow in my academic skills, but I was also offered other opportunities outside of the classroom. For the first time in my life, I learned how to ski, performed in school musicals, and traveled with my peers to Washington, D.C., to learn more about the U.S. All of these experiences helped shape me into a confident, creative, and curious learner.

By serving on the Board of Trustees, I am able to give back to a school that helped positively shape my early childhood education. It is my hope that The Grammar School continues to provide an excellent education to many more students from diverse backgrounds.

OUR MISSION

As a small community of parents, students, and teachers in conscious partnership, The Grammar School (TGS) integrates high expectations for achievement, creativity, self-discipline, and social responsibility. We cultivate in each student a lifelong enthusiasm for learning, a strong sense of self, and a desire to contribute constructively to society. Our program provides students with an excellent academic, artistic, athletic, and ethical foundation.

CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS

Dudley Blossom P’20 Chair

Rick Cowan P’07, P’09

Former Head of School

Emma Cowan ’07

David Greenewalt P’20, P’22

Natalie Harding P’27

David Jacobson P’18

June Lupiani P’27

Alissa Mello P’27, P’29 Celine Mudahakana ’09

TRUSTEES EMERITI/CO-FOUNDERS

George* and Kitty Shumlin P’69, P’70, P’74, GP’05, GP’06, GP’09, GP’12, GGP’28, GGP’30

Roy (Dick)* and Dottie* Richardson P’63, P’67, P’68, P’69, P’74, P’76, GP’02, GP’03, GP’05

Marcia Leader P’82, P’85, GP’10 *deceased

ADMINISTRATION

Nick Perry P’27, P’30

Head of School

Tara Meinhard ’88 P’28

Assistant Head of School

Alexandra Bodel P’24, P’26

Director of Admissions and Marketing

Melanie Brubaker Danzi P’31, P’33

Director of Development

Ailyn Hoey ’87 P’25

Assistant to the Head

Norm Bergeron

Facilities Director

Cynthia Moore CFO Alex Cooke Accounts Receivable

FACULTY & STAFF

Catie Hutchings P’28, P’32

Head Preschool Teacher

Arielle Descoteau

Assistant Preschool Teacher

Ken Brautigam P’11, P’13

Pre-Kindergarten Director/Teacher

Tori Mitchell

Assistant Pre-Kindergarten Teacher

Jessica Sardinas P’19, P’24

Kindergarten Teacher

Alisha Cannon P’26, P’28

First Grade Teacher

Eve McDermott P’06, P’08

Second Grade Teacher

Annie Schulzinger P’33

Third Grade Teacher

Jane Mellow

Fourth Grade Teacher

Leah Toffolon P’31, P’34, P’34

Fifth Grade Homeroom, Fifth and Sixth Grade English and Social Studies

Dave Steckler

Sixth Grade Homeroom, Fifth and Sixth Grade Math and Science

Kathy Richardson ’67 P’02, P’03, P’05

Middle School Math, All School Math Specialist

Paul “Hop” Hopkins P’19, P’22

Seventh Grade Homeroom, Seventh and Eighth Grade Science, Seventh Grade Social Studies, Seventh and Eighth Grade Physical Skills Development

Jessa Rowan P’29

Eighth Grade Homeroom, Eighth Grade English and Humanities, Seventh Grade English, Theater Director

Heather Sommerlad

Music Teacher, Brattleboro Music Center

Amy Cann Music Teacher, Brattleboro Music Center

Chinón Maria “Chichi” Mitre ’99

Art Teacher

Paqui Arroyo-Moyano P’21

Spanish Teacher

Erica Schwabach

Fifth through Eighth Grade Physical Skills Development, Director of Sports and After-School Programming

Emily Hurley

Aftercare and Early Education Support

Mikaela Marmion

Aftercare and Counseling Support

Dylan Ward

Classroom and Administrative Support

Pete Guenther

Bus Driver

Rick Wooley

Bus Driver and Facilities Support

Carlotta Cuerdon ’76 P’09, P’12, P’14

Part-time Bus Driver

Congratulations to our 2022 graduates!

WE CELEBRATED our

graduates under a tent at the Upper School on June 16, 2022. It was an evening of music, art, poetry, and speeches by students and teachers alike that were touching, inspiring, and frequently hilarious.

We wish the Class of 2022 all the best as they head off to new adventures at Bellows Falls Union High School, Green Mountain Union High School, Middlebury Union High School, Phillips Exeter Academy, The Putney School, and Vermont Academy.

Front row, left to right: Jessa Rowan (eighth grade teacher), Charlie Hopkins, Maggie Pajcic, Margaretta Greenewalt, Maya Piluski, Hannah Holton, Ella Wilson, Arlo Schilling Second row, left to right: Niah Doran, Elan Dell, Cabot Townsend, Callan McDowell

Your investment in The Grammar School is both valued and appreciated. Our donors bridge the difference between tuition income and the real cost of operating our school. We are grateful for each and every gift. This list recognizes all those who donated from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022. We apologize for any errors or omissions. Please send any corrections to Melanie Brubaker Danzi at MDanzi@thegrammarschool.org.

Jacob Abrams ● AKC Fund Inc ■ Kathryn Alverson & Rich Costey ● Lynne Amend ●

Leonard Andrew ● Anonymous (A) ● Anonymous (B) ● Anonymous (C) ■ Anonymous (D) ◆ Anonymous (E) ●

Francisca Arroyo-Moyano & Dondi O. Ahearn ● John Barrengos ● Patrica & Michael Beeler ● Peter Bergstrom & Susan Still ● Madeline Bergstrom & Paul Hopkins ● Carol Berry ● Molly Blood ●

Dudley & Eugenia Blossom ● Alexandra & Michael Bodel ● John Bodel ● Ronnie Booxbaum ● Erin Borio ●

Anne Boswell ◆

Oren K. & Elizabeth Boynton ● Miles Brautigam ●

Allegra Brelsford ● Sarah Brennan ● John Bricker ●

Susie & Ed Brubaker ● Samrad Bukovcan ● Ken Burns ● ■

Burrows Specialized Sports ● John Burt ◆

John & Lorena Butcher ● Hope Butterworth ● Peter & Darcy Caldwell ● Nancy Calicchio ● Alisha Cannon ● Wendy Carr ● Rich & Aria Carter ● Liam Cashel ● CG Agency ●

Kyra & Miles Chapin ● Francesca Childs ● Elizabeth Christie ● Marc Cohen & Christine Ellis ● Christopher Cook ● Kathleen Cooke ● Richard Costey ● Emma Cowan ●

Greer Cowan ● Richard Cowan ● Creative Learning Company ●

Crossroads Foundation ■ Don & Carlotta Brelsford Cuerdon ● Emily Cuerdon ● Luke Cuerdon ● Rory Cuerdon ● Leyna D'Ancona ● Alicia Dana ● Robert & Melanie Danzi ● Sara Danzi ● Sam Dell III ● Heather Doane ● Michael Patrick Doran ● William Doran ● Samuel Dowe-Sandes ● Arthur & Katharine Draper ● Miriam L. Dror ●

Jason Orlin Dean Egan ● Kat Ellison ● David & Marian Entin ● Matt Ewald ● John E. Ewald & Margaret O'Toole ● Facebook Fundraiser ● Ted Fiske ● Maggie Fountain Smith ● Anne Fox ● Barbara L. Fox ● Castle & Alice Freeman ● Carolyn Frisa ● Edward Frisa Jr. ● Chris Gabriel ● Mark Goodenough & Ailyn Hoey ● Karen & Mike Goodman ●

Deb Gray ● Stephen H. Green ● Green Parents & Grandparents ● Chip Greenberg ● David Greenewalt & Melanie Kent ● Erika Gustafson ● Robert Gustafson ● Karen Guttentag ● Barbara Haas ● Adelene Hall ●

Hannaford Helps Schools ● H. Regine & Natalie Harding ● Chris Harlow and Bettina Berg ●, ◆ Doris Hauert ● Geordie Heller ● Jessica Heller ● William Heller ● Mary Heller Osgood & Chris Osgood ● Michael Helmstadter ● Michelle Hendelman ● Beth Henkle ● Teague Henkle ● Martha Herbert ●, ◆ Brett Hershey & Sarah Jesup ◆ Stephen Hinkle ● Robert E. Hoffman & Tatiana Bronich ● Carolyn Holmes ● Arthalene & John Hopkins ● Michael Hornsby ● Cassie Howe ● Jan & Peter Howe ●, ◆ Katie Howe ● Bonnie Hudspeth ● Kate Henkle Hughes ● Lucy Hull & Bart Chapin ● Jennifer Jacobs ● David Jacobson & Candace Damon ● Julia Jensen & Tim Weed ◆

Nancy Jesup ◆

Jonathan Jesup & Mary Chamberlin ●, ◆ John Caldwell Revocable Trust ●

Elizabeth Johnson ● Elizabeth Jordan ● Frank Jordan ● Judith Joseph ● Susan A. Kaplan, in memory of Peter K. Trumper ● James Karlan ● Keenan Monahan Family ● Michael Kelly ● Tae Mo & Yi Soon Kim ●

Kitty Shumlin Trust ● Maya Kuriki ● L. Amend Fund ● James Large ● Laura Zindel Design ● John & Marcia Leader ● ◆ Anne Griffin Lefer ● Ted Lefer ● David Lillie ● Ray Lindsey and Tobi Boudreau ● Steve & Nancie Lorenz ● Joel Lowsky ● Alli Lubin ● James Lumley ● Phoebe Lumley ● June & Joseph Lupiani ● Deborah Luskin & Timothy Shafer ●,◆ Buket Macri ● Ruth Anne Marchetti ■ Beth McCabe ● Libby McCawley ● Eve & Jake McDermott ● Leyte McNealus ● Molly McOwen ● Paul & Jean McOwen ●

Tara Meinhard ● Jane Mellow ● Lisa Merton ● Tim Merton ● Margaret Miller ● Elizabeth Mills ● Timothy Morris ● Margaret Moulton ● New Hampshire Charitable Foundation ● Susan & Bill Newkirk ● Sara Newmark ● Milton J. & Marilee Nieuwsma ● Nonesuch Garden ● Deborah Noyes ● Kelly O’Ryan and Sergio Simunovic ● Jessamyn Olson ● Emily Osgood ● Jonathan Osgood ● Hannah Oxholm ● Kathleen Pajcic ●, s Elisabeth W. Pasterkamp ● Lies Pasterkamp & Erin Sternfels ● Claude Pepin & Lise Sparrow ● Nick Perry & Liz Jordan ● Pricilla & Paul Petraska ● Mary Piluski ● Pollio Family Foundation ● Andrea Rabinowitz ◆ Martha Rabinowitz ◆ Simha E. Ravven ● Mark & Elizabeth Richards ● Kathy Richardson ● Julia Ricklis ●

Edgar J. & Carol L. Roberts ● Victoria Roberts ● Julie Robinson ● Nancy Ross ● Jessa Rowan ● Mary Colman St. John ● Salesforce ● Thomas M. Salmon ● Guildry Santana & Emily Capella s Jessica Sardinas ●

Brian Schilling ●

John Schneider ●

Anne Schulzinger ● Leon Schulzinger & Linda Pennell ● Erica Schwabach ● Melinda Scrivner ●

Sally Seymour ● Lauren Shockley ● Jeff Shumlin & Evie Lovett ● Peter Shumlin & Katie Hunt ● W.H. & E.K. Silverstein ● Michelle F. Simpson 4

Robert Singer ● Samantha Sintros ● Kora Skeele ● Amazon Smile ● Liz & Prentiss Smith ● Prentiss Smith Sr. ●, ■ Julia Sommer ● Peter Stamm ● Beth Stickney & Whit Blauvelt ● Alexander Stone ● Lorna Stone ● Billy Straus & Lynne Weinstein ● Jennifer Taplin Jerome ●

The Kane-Barrengos Foundation ●

The Richards Group ● Ruth Tilghman ● Carlos Tilghman-Osborne ● Kathryn & Frank Tolve ● Pat Townsend ● Samantha Trubridge ● Jennifer Turco ● Judith & Wayne Wagenbach ● Katherine & Kurt Wagenbach ■ Eugene & Lili Walsh ◆

Kayleigh Walsh ● Greer Ward ● Wayne & Shila Weil ● Joan Weir ● Rhea White ● Kyla White ● Wallace & Robin Whitney ● Rachel Wicka ● Karen & Tim Williams ● Michael Wilner ● Alex & Jerelyn Wilson ● Amy Wistreich ● Jenny Witherell ● Jennifer Wren ● Zach Yeskel & Heather Brubaker ● Toby Young ● Gerrit W. Zwart ●

● Designates a gift to our Annual Fund.

■ Designates a gift to the Founders’ Fund, created in 2018 to support professional development for our faculty and to maintain our physical plant.

◆ Designates a gift to the Leader Scholarship Fund, created in honor of TGS parent, teacher, administrator, and community member Marcia Leader.

s Designates a gift to the Capstone Fund in support of eighth grade capstone projects and trips.

THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL

159 Grammar School Lane Putney, Vermont 05346

Broadening Our Horizons

Our new eighth grade Capstone Trip to Puerto Rico (see page 16) includes Spanish immersion, service learning, and a chance to experience the island's extraordinary history, culture, and ecology. TGS is committed to making the trip affordable for all students. Donate to the Capstone Fund to support that goal. thegrammarschool/giving