Gam winter 2017

GAM

The

2017 WINTER

Creative Approaches

First Bell If you look at the many lists of what are commonly called “Twenty-first Century Skills” students need to be successful in college, in the workforce, and in life in general, virtually every list includes the skill of creativity.

For many people, creativity means the arts — music, photography, writing, drawing, and others. These are certainly areas where creativity abounds. But a complete appreciation of the term should include many other domains — creativity in its complete form is the ability to imagine something that does not exist, and then to shepherd that something from imagination to design, from drafting to prototyping, and from revision to reality.

This issue of The Gam overflows with examples of student and faculty creativity, starting with the front cover, where Stephanie Aviles’ artistic rendering of our orchestra in rehearsal provides the perfect overture to the magazine. We will encounter Charlie Fenske’s Google Science Fair award-winning creation of a more efficient rocket design and Jillian Igoe’s humanistic endeavors to bridge cultures and bring problem-solving creativity to issues on a global scale (incidentally, Jillian is also one of the cello players captured so compellingly on the cover!). We find sophomore Becky Butler’s writing talents on display as her byline graces two pieces — one reporting on our annual outing to Marconi Beach to create magnificent sand sculptures and one spotlighting art teacher Lucy Nelson’s exhibit in New York City.

We know that athletic achievement comes with years of hard work and dedication, and yet there are few who would take issue with a description of Cape and Islands League MVP Eliza Van Voorhis’s performances on the soccer field as poetry in motion. We’re introduced to alumni faculty member Mike Deasy’s creative approaches to teaching, including a mindfulness exercise that he undertakes with his students at the beginning of every class, and former English teacher Claire Beams’s triumphant return to read from her newly published and well-reviewed collection of short fiction.

The construction of the Simon Center for the Arts offers a visible embodiment of creativity at Falmouth Academy, not only because we’re reminded daily in a variety of ways that creation is often messy and noisy, energetic and mesmerizing, but also because when it’s complete the Simon Center will quickly become yet another powerful locus of creativity on campus.

It’s a dynamic and exciting time to be part of the Falmouth Academy community, for the teaching and learning that happens daily, for the events that punctuate our school year with traditions and exhibitions of creative mastery, and for our prospects for the future. And creativity is a central quality to all that happens, and will happen, at our school!

Stephen Duffy Head of School

The

GAM

Falmouth Academy

Mission

GAM: “A social meeting of whale ships ... with all the sympathies of sailors [and] all the peculiar congenialities arising from a common pursuit.”

7 Highfield Drive Falmouth, MA 02540 508-457-9696 falmouthacademy.org

Harnessing the power of inspired learning in a worldrenowned scientific and vibrant artistic community, Falmouth Academy emboldens each student to take creative and intellectual risks to confidently engage the challenges of our times.

Editorial Staff

Administration

Peter Kent, Editor Barbara Campbell, Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Amy Galvam, Director of Communications Rebecca Butler '19, Contributing Writer Design: Laura McMahon, Resnik & Associates, Inc.

Stephen A. Duffy, Head of School Michael J. Earley, Assistant Head of School Pamela Clapp Hinkle, Director of Development Karen Loder, Director of Admission

Up Front Art in the Sand Falmouth Academy celebrated its annual Marconi Beach Day on September 28, with teams of students working to create sand sculptures ranging from pop culture references to tributes to fallen stars such as Prince and Gene Kelly. The winning creations included a portrayal of Ryan Lochte that poked fun at the Olympic scandal (third place), a mountain of sand morphed into the gorilla who became an icon, Harambe (second place), and, in first place, a Bas Relief of the zodiac calendar with the addition of the recently discovered thirteenth sign. As usual, observers of the spectacle were impressed not only by the sculptures, but also by the teamwork that went into them. As one man remarked to Assistant Head of School Michael Earley, “Kids need more of things like this. Our whole country needs more of things like this.” This sentiment is shared by the students, with senior Megan Flory commenting, “the truly incredible thing about Marconi is how it brings the school together to create something meaningful.”

– Rebecca Butler '19 (Barbara Campbell photo)

On the Cover

Award-winning artist Stephanie Aviles created this issue’s cover artwork in a “blind contour” project in her Advanced Drawing class. The East Sandwich senior sat in on a school orchestra rehearsal in Morse Hall and drew without looking at the paper, letting the music guide her creativity. Stephanie added the color to her work when she returned to the art studio.

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Beams Shines with Debut Book Author and former Falmouth Academy English teacher Clare Beams returned to campus in November to discuss her acclaimed debut collection of short stories, “We Show What We Have Learned” (Lookout Books, October 2016). Ms. Beams, a faculty member from 2006 to 2012, spoke as part of the ongoing Falmouth Academy Community Series.

In listing her book as one of “10 Titles to Pick Up Now” in November, the editors of O, the Oprah Magazine, wrote: “This debut collection is full of promise and surreal delight. In the shocking title tale, a teacher falls to pieces in front of her class, not emotionally or metaphorically, but literally.

We hope there’s much more to come from this writer.”

Author Joyce Carol Oates wrote of Beams: “As if, by a rare sort of magic, Alice Munro and Shirley Jackson had conspired together to imagine a female/feminist voice for the twenty-first century that is wickedly sharpeyed, wholly unpredictable, and wholly engaging.”

“These stories are at once spooky and lush, eerie and deeply felt, ghostly but also vibrantly alive. Clare Beams is a magician, and each of these stories is a muscular, artful haunting,” wrote Caitlin Horrocks, author of “This Is Not Your City.”

noted that she has “taught two of the stories in this collection with great success: the title story, in which a teacher falls apart in a rather spectacular way, imparting lessons about mortality in the process; and the cleverly twisted ‘Hourglass,’ in which a headmaster goes to sinister lengths to mold his pupils.

Clare’s writing is at once lyrical, edgy, eloquent, sharp, and lush. I am incredibly proud that we can call Clare one of our own.”

After six years on the Falmouth Academy faculty, Ms. Beams moved to Pittsburgh in 2013, where she teaches creative writing at Saint Vincent College and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Her stories have appeared in One Story, n+1, Ecotone, The Common, the Kenyon Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and have received special mention in The Best American Short Stories 2013 and The Pushcart Prize XXXV. She is the recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and currently blogs for Ploughshares.

English teacher and Middle School Director Monica Hough, in a review of the book in the 2016 Falmouth Academy Bookworm,

Family Affair The annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day in October drew more than 100 guests to school for classes and lunch.

Among the crowd were David and June Rickard of Falmouth, shown here with grandson Alex ’22 and science teacher Virginia Edgcomb. (Susan Moffat photo)

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Art in the City Works by Falmouth Academy art teacher Lucy Nelson were part of an exhibition in the Bowery Gallery in New York City this summer.

Mrs. Nelson paints fifteenth-century-style Renaissance marriage portraits, saying she loves them because of “the hidden clues” that “let you into who the subject was.”

In her own work, Mrs. Nelson also incorporates these personal touches, having the five couples she painted dress their partners, “offering a little glimpse into [their] marriage.” In the portrait of herself and her husband, Mrs. Nelson incorporated a multitude of symbols, the more obvious including a doll adored by her daughter Tate and the olive she holds in reference to her daughter Olive, and the more subtle such as her husband’s bow-tie, which he wore at their wedding.

Mrs. Nelson, shown here with Tate at the Bowery Gallery, says she loves how this portrait is like a freeze-frame of their marriage, but adds that if it were done today it “would evolve,” and that, she says, is the beauty of it.

– Rebecca Butler '19 The American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) has named Falmouth Academy’s German program a Center of Excellence for outstanding contributions to the teaching and learning of German in the U.S. Three programs in the U.S. were recognized as German Centers of Excellence at the AATG Convention in Boston in November. Falmouth Academy was named the K-12 recipient, while two universities also received the designation.

The award is presented to well‐established and growing German programs with demonstrated excellence in instruction and strong support from administration, professional colleagues, alumni, and students.

German teachers Petra Ehrenbrink (left) and Gundhild Eder.

Falmouth Academy Named a National German Center of Excellence

In announcing the selection, the AATG cited the German curriculum at Falmouth Academy as “most impressive,” with a “clear, articulated sequence of instructional programming that is standards-based and reflects current methodologies.” Program materials are “culturally authentic and interdisciplinary connections have been established,” and extracurricular activities and special events “are clearly integral elements of the program.”

The AATG cited the school’s “exemplary faculty” and “clear evidence of continuing faculty development at local, state and national levels.” Faculty rapport with students was also applauded.

Teachers of German at Falmouth Academy are Dr. Petra Ehrenbrink, department chair and a member of the faculty since 1998, and Ms. Gundhild Eder, now in her tenth year at the school.

“The German program at Falmouth Academy certainly values its students,” stated AATG executive director Keith Cothrun. “This is truly a program that is designed to meet the needs of students.”

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r a t S s r e n i r a M Senior Eliza Van Voorhis, junior Kendall Currence of Bourne, and sophomore Helena Weare of Cataumet were named to the Cape and Islands All League girls’ soccer team this fall.

Goal Oriented Senior Eliza Van Voorhis had numerous goals when the varsity soccer season began — 72 of them, to be exact.

Actually, she had several other goals at the start of the fall season: be an effective leader as a team captain, bring the team together as one unit, have the team qualify for the state tournament, and win at least one tournament game. Less important to her, Eliza wanted to see if she could set a new Falmouth Academy girls' scoring record, and capture a third consecutive Most Valuable Player award for the Cape and Islands League.

She finished six for six.

In a win over Cape Cod Academy on Halloween day, Eliza scored goal number 100 to eclipse Karen Geagan’s 20-year-old record. She went on to finish the season with 107 goals, and in November she “three-peated” as league MVP.

Senior Théo Guérin of Falmouth was named to the All League team in boys’ soccer.

In middle school soccer, the Falmouth Academy boys' team captured the Cape Cod Super Six Championship (CCSS) with a dramatic, come-from-behind win over St. Francis Xavier in the league's tournament championship game. The FA girls almost duplicated the feat, but fell in the championship game, 1-0.

Falmouth Academy is a charter member of the CCSS, which is in its second year and is comprised of the independent and parochial middle school programs on the Cape.

“It was an incredible honor to be a team captain and it comes with a lot of responsibility,” said the Mattapoisett resident, who is also Student Council vice president and a National Honor Society member. “I was so lucky to captain a very special team of such nice, supportive girls who made my job easy, and I am so thankful for that.

“It’s exciting to set a new school record, especially one that was set 20 years ago,” added Eliza, also a basketball and lacrosse standout. “It was definitely a challenge, and I would not have been able to do it without the incredible support of my teammates and the dozens of beautiful assists by (sophomore) Helena Weare, in particular.”

The girls' varsity squad notched an impressive 13-4-2 season and advanced to the second round of the MIAA south sectionals before falling to a powerful Cohasset High School team.

“This year's team surprised me with their level of success and how quickly they improved,” said coach Ed Lott. “With only one senior, this was a young team. They bought into the idea of just doing your job and backing up your teammates. Eliza’s captainship had a lot to do with that.

They played with a level of discipline that was beyond their years and they played within their abilities. They were not flashy. They understood what they had to do to win and that happened quite frequently. They were a joy to coach and I look forward to working with them next year.

“Eliza was one of the cornerstones of the soccer program over the last five years,” he continued.

“She was a player the team could count on to compete at the highest level every minute she was on the field. Combine her speed with good footwork and one of the strongest shots in the league and you have a superb offensive player, as evidenced by her 107 goals in her career. I was impressed with how hard Eliza worked as a captain to create a positive team atmosphere.

She praised her teammates often, looked to deflect praise on them, and was quick to take responsibility for her mistakes. Her efforts in this area had a significant impact on the success of the team.”

Said Eliza, the fourth member of her family to attend Falmouth Academy: “I did not see any of this stuff happening when I started playing at FA in seventh grade. I didn’t really know that the MVP honor existed, let alone the scoring record.”

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The Heart of Africa

By Georgia Sparling Reprinted with permission of Sippican Week, Mattapoisett It only took a week to change Jillian Igoe's perspective on life.

“I feel like the quality of my life and how I’m interacting and doing things is different. I’m talking more, being present more, eating more of what’s on my plate and what’s given,” she said.

Jillian said kids followed their vehicle from village to village, and on their last day, the group played soccer with a group of girls. “That was one of my favorite moments,” she said.

Coming from a musical family, Jillian also spoke of a session singing In July, the Mattapoisett resident and Falmouth Academy junior visited on the beach of Lake Malawi through Global Concerns Classroom’s Field Visit program.

Malawi. “They sang traditional music and When talking to Jillian, it’s clear that she is still processing her The Beatles. I’ve never felt so content,” she said. “Malawi is called the whirlwind experience abroad. As she speaks about her time in Malawi, heart of Africa and it makes sense.”

Jillian sometimes stumbles as she searches for just the right words, if there are any, to express the things she saw, heard and learned.

Jillian said she didn’t go into the week thinking she would change the people. Instead, she listened and interacted and let them change her. “I For a week, Jillian, a fellow American student and a group of Irish wanted to learn from them and I did,” she said. students visited dozens of villages where they learned about the work of Concern Worldwide. The two American students were chosen after The communal nature of the people and how Concern works with submitting applications and essays on what it means to be a world Malawians was an important takeaway from the week. “I learned that citizen. you really can’t do anything unless you’re working together towards something common. Dwelling on the issue won’t get you anywhere,” Concern, an Ireland-based nonprofit, works to end extreme poverty she said. through long-term programs. According to Jillian, much of that work focuses on empowering women through programs that include The 16-year-old knows in her brief travels she’s only scratched the microloans to start small businesses and education on sexual safety surface of the continent, but it has given her fresh perspective on her and health. The students experienced the work first hand as they met own country. “In America, we take two years of western civilization of with female leaders, attended meetings on sexual violence and saw American history, and then we cram in world history at the end. It’s no agricultural projects, many led by women, in action. wonder all of us call Africa a country.”

“It was eye opening,” said Jillian. “A lot of people argue that feminism isn’t necessary in the world, to that I say, they’re stuck in the perception of this country. But in other countries and other continents, it’s completely different. There were a lot of cases of child pregnancies, things of that nature, child marriages.”

While the reality of gender-based violence was sobering to Jillian, her experiences interacting with the Malawian girls and women left a deep imprint on how she sees her own circumstances. So did the more lighthearted moments.

Bringing a deeper understanding of Malawi is something Concern charged Jillian and her fellow peers with once they returned home. It’s something she has taken to heart. Jillian started a blog, Destination Malawi, to talk about her trip and hopes to engage others in conversation about her experience. Aside from that, it’s too soon for Jillian to say how else the trip has changed her, but she did give a hint.

“There’s a saying, ‘Once you go to Africa, you can’t help but go back,’ ” she said.

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Charlie Fenske (with a trophy of LEGOs) gets a boost from Virgin Galactic engineers at the Google Science Fair awards ceremony.

Rocketing to Success

magazine, radio and television reporters about his award-winning rocket project — all the while framing his answers in terms that just about anyone could understand. And here, too, Charlie thrived.

Charles Fenske was in his element: Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, surrounded by highly imaginative peers and innovative scientists, engineers, educators, technology leaders, and business executives — all focused on creative solutions to global problems.

“It can be difficult to communicate complex aerospace engineering concepts to the general public, and I try to envision how I would explain the concepts to myself before I understood them. I also change my explanation method depending on the technical background of the audience,” said Charlie.

Here he thrived, winning the international Google Science Fair’s coveted Virgin Galactic Pioneer Award for engineering innovation for his project, “Analysis of Rocket Guidance Systems to Enhance Space Flight Efficiency” in September. The award honors a student who develops a world-class, hands-on approach to a significant engineering challenge.

“Falmouth Academy has really helped me develop the communication skills for presenting my project; during my time here my writing and presentation skills have significantly improved. Before the Google Science Fair, I worked with (Rhetoric teacher) Mrs. Melillo on my presentation, which helped me communicate my ideas to the judges.”

“There are many challenges in space exploration and my project addresses one of them,” said Charlie. “Sending complex scientific experiments to space is very expensive. Suborbital sounding rockets are a low cost solution for simple experiments.

“I wanted to increase their versatility by inventing an efficient guidance system, which enables the rocket’s trajectory to be changed,” he continued. “This increases the complexity of experiments that can be tested with sounding rockets. My prototype, the Synthetic Jet Actuator Rocket Fin, modifies the way air flows over a fin, producing more lift and less drag at high angles of attack. This translates to greater maneuverability and versatility for sounding rockets.”

Back home in Massachusetts, the Falmouth Academy junior was addressing a different challenge: managing schoolwork and other activities while also juggling numerous interviews with newspaper,

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It’s been quite a year for the Edgartown rocketeer and aspiring aerospace engineer. After capturing a first prize, the Marine Biological Laboratory Scholarship, and the Robert B. Gordon Award for depth of knowledge, independence and creativity at the Falmouth Academy Science Fair last February, Charlie moved on to the South Shore Regional Science Fair in March, where his project received a firstplace award. From there, it was on to the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair on the MIT campus in May, where he landed a second-place award.

“We create the platform — a launching pad, if you will — for students,” said biology teacher Dr. Alison Ament, who annually coordinates the FA Science Fair’s 100-plus judges and mentors, and serves as liaison to the regional science fair. “Charlie took it and soared with it.”

Come summer, Charlie took his project global, submitting a highly detailed written report, charts, graphs, and a video he made to explain

his work and findings to the online Google Science Fair. He was among thousands of teenagers from around the world whose entries would be judged based on innovation and “thinking big,” the project’s capacity to make an impact, excellence of method, and the entrant’s communication skills and passion for science or engineering. Google Science Fair partners include the LEGO Group and LEGO Education, National Geographic, Scientific American, Virgin Galactic, and 32 educator organizations worldwide.

Not long afterward, Charlie received word of his selection as one of 100 regional finalists. He and his family, and his Falmouth Academy teachers and classmates, were thrilled. In August, he was named one of 16 global finalists. The competition culminated in final judging and a gala awards ceremony on September 27 at Google.

Charlie’s award is accompanied by a $15,000 educational scholarship, a year-long mentorship with Virgin Galactic, and a tour of the company’s Mojave Air and Space Port in California to meet with engineers and to get acquainted with Virgin Galactic’s new spaceship.

“My favorite part of the Google Science Fair was sharing my project with the judges,” said Charlie. “They all had different scientific

backgrounds, which led to interesting questions. I presented my project to aerospace engineers who completely understood my prototype and realized its potential. I also liked visiting the Google headquarters and seeing the new technology, such as the self-drive car they’re developing.”

And all the media attention, which included stories in the Cape Cod Times, the Falmouth Enterprise, both Martha’s Vineyard weeklies, Boys’ Life magazine (he’s on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout), the regional National Public Radio outlet, and a Boston TV station, among others?

“I did like the media coverage of my project,” said Charlie, the son of Caroline and Reiner Fenske and older brother of Lukas, an FA ninthgrader. “It was good practice for presenting my project to non-scientist audiences. Also, the media communicates my project to thousands of people who may be interested in its applications.”

Charlie is his own tough act to follow for this year’s FA Science Fair, but teaming with senior Théo Guérin of Falmouth (who captured first prize last year for his Scalable Rooftop Dual-Axle Solar Tracking Design project) on an Airborne Wind Energy Systems design effort certainly holds great promise. Stay tuned.

Rhetoric teacher Lalise Melillo helps Charlie Fenske prepare for his Google presentation. (Barbara Campbell photo)

Photos on this page courtesy of Mark Lovewell, Vineyard Gazette.

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Bonnie and Stephen Simon in 2012. (Elizabeth Forbes Armstrong photo)

Simon Says Arts Falmouth Academy’s performing arts center, due to open in the spring, has a new name and a sparkling future, thanks to the generosity of the family of the late Maestro Stephen Simon, whose vision and devotion helped lay the foundation for “Arts on the Hill,” of which the school is an integral part.

The Simons, seasonal residents of Woods Hole and longtime benefactors of Falmouth Academy, made what Board of Trustees chair Beth Colt called “a transformational gift” to help make the new Simon Center for the Arts possible.

Stephen Simon, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 75, was a renowned conductor and founder and music director of the Washington Chamber Symphony, the resident chamber orchestra of the Kennedy Center. He is credited with the 1970s revival of Handel’s operas and oratorios, creating performance editions and conducting many premieres before American audiences, and with establishing the Kennedy Center’s annual Handel festival. He was also music director of the Handel Society of New York, which performed annually at Carnegie Hall.

In 2004, Mr. Simon founded the Simon Sinfonietta chamber orchestra in Falmouth, and subsequently led dozens of highly popular benefit concerts for Falmouth Academy, Highfield Hall and other regional organizations.

The Simon Center for the Arts at Falmouth Academy is the culmination of a vision that began when Mr. Simon responded to a request for a gift to fix the roof of the crumbling nearby Highfield Hall by offering to give a benefit concert, said Bonnie Ward Simon, who like her late husband has devoted her career to music and music education.

“Stephen believed that this area filled with world-class science needed a place for world-class music,” said Mrs. Simon. “The concept of ‘Arts on the Hill’ was his idea of how to make this very special corner of the world complete. What started with a concert led to an orchestra, and now music, art, theater, and film abound on this hill.

“Our family sees this new center at Falmouth Academy as such a fitting way to remember a man who loved to spread joy through the arts,” she said.

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Mrs. Simon is president of Simon & Simon LLC and Maestro Classics, which she and Mr. Simon launched in 2004, and executive producer and creative director for the Stories in Music series of recordings.

Previously, as executive director of the Washington Chamber Symphony, she co-created widely acclaimed multigenerational programming, including the Concerts for Young People series, Viva Vivaldi!, the Great Composer Series, and Stories in Music. She has served on the boards of directors of Carnegie Hall, the Guggenheim Museum of Art, and the New York City Opera.

“The Simon Center will be a new hub for music, theater and art lovers throughout Falmouth, the Upper Cape and beyond,” said Head of School Stephen Duffy. “Audiences of all ages will find this to be a wonderful facility, and our students and teachers will benefit immeasurably from the center’s amenities and from their exposure to creative arts and performance professionals across an array of genres.

We are thrilled to be able to offer such a venue to the community, and enormously grateful to Bonnie Simon and her family for making this possible.”

Work on the Simon Center began in June, and in the following months the sounds of progress — mostly sotto voce but occasionally played fortissimo — have provided a steady soundtrack. The project has also prompted creative planning and approaches by FA drama and music teachers, and community groups as well, to stage performances previously held in the old arts center in the smaller Morse Hall meeting space this year.

In November, drama teacher Elisabeth Munro Ledwell directed her student thespians in a production of the spy thriller “The 39 Steps,” a melodrama adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock.

“Working in Morse Hall has brought us back to our roots, with great performances by actors doing a challenging, modern play,” said Ms. Ledwell. “I chose ‘The 39 Steps’ in part because when I saw it in New York, I was impressed with the minimal staging requirements — which is not to say that the staging wasn't creative; it was, and it was amazing.

“Our performance focused on sounds and costumes, to great effect, to create train chases, plane rides, car rides, chase scenes, love scenes, and general mayhem! We plan to do more of the same in the spring,” she added.

“Performing in Morse Hall has provided us a more intimate space

with a state-of-the-art projection system,” said Arts Department chair and music director George Scharr. “It has inspired me to add the visual artists to link their artwork with water music being played by the jazz band and the chamber orchestra. While the ensembles are playing pieces like ‘Moondance,’ ‘Water Music,’ and ‘Die Moldau,’ images of FA student artwork are projected over their heads and synchronized with the music. And we’ll have a very nice A/V system in the new center — with more seats, of course!”

Mr. Scharr also serves as community outreach director for the school and, as such, works with area music, theater and other arts organizations that perform at FA. Some performances are being held in Morse Hall, while others have temporarily relocated to larger venues around town until the new Simon Center opens.

booth, and an art gallery. These and other spaces in the Simon Center will bear the names of other leadership donors to the project, such as the Gordon T. Heald Music Room, made possible through a gift from Betsy Heald in honor of her late husband.

The Simon Center for the Arts is part of a comprehensive campus development plan supported by an ongoing fundraising campaign at Falmouth Academy. To date, the school has raised more than $3.7 million for the arts center project, and Ms. Colt and Mr. Duffy expressed hope that the Simon family gift will prompt others in the community to help close out the campaign by the end of the current school year.

The $4.25 million, state-of-the-art Simon Center will feature a 300seat theater, a music room, a green room, a set design shop, a control

Pamela Clapp Hinkle joined Falmouth Academy this past summer as director of development. She is managing the final leg of the school’s campaign and can be reached at 508-457-9696 by anyone interested in supporting the Simon Center project.

Josh Watson ’18 of East Falmouth and Zephy Thompson ’20 of Vineyard Haven in a scene from Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps,” staged in Morse Hall this fall as work on the new Simon Center for the Arts continues. (Susan Moffat photo)

The multiple talents of Falmouth Academy students were showcased at the Fall Concert as musical performances were accompanied by student artwork and photographs projected on the wall of Morse Hall.

(Susan Moffat photo)

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Teacher Michael Deasy leads seventh-graders in a group exercise during the annual Watershed Day.

Passing the Rhetoric Torch

By Barbara Campbell

Take a moment. Be conscious of your breathing. Take a deep breath through your nose; breathe out through your mouth. When you finish exhaling, pause.

English teacher Michael Deasy and his seventh-graders do this at the beginning of each class. “When everyone exhales at the same time, there’s silence, and they know it’s time to start the class. We’re all on the same page and ready to go,” he said of this technique he learned in a college seminar.

Mr. Deasy, now in his second year of teaching and coaching at Falmouth Academy, is a member of the Class of 2010. He always knew he wanted to be a teacher.

“We always say that education is preparing them for life. But these students are living right now. I try to convince them to take their education seriously even — and especially — at 12 and 13 because it will help them today — right now!”

Middle School Director Monica Hough has been very impressed with Mr. Deasy’s teaching methods and the ways he interacts with his students. “Mike is such a natural teacher that I sometimes forget I ever taught him as a student. He is a wonderful colleague. He embodies the ethos of Falmouth Academy and teaches with great imagination.”

“I started to appreciate the depth of teaching when I was in Rhetoric.”

“I started to appreciate the depth of teaching when I was in Rhetoric,” he said. “Lalise Melillo is so good about showing seniors the preparation that lies beneath the surface of a lesson.”

Now that he is a teacher, he said, “I am straightforward about the importance of our class. During the first week I ask my seventhgraders to write out their expectations and consider how they can achieve them. That fosters excitement for the class and gives them high expectations to strive for.”

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If Mr. Deasy has a modus operandi, it is convincing young people that their thoughts, feelings, successes and failures are important.

For example, Mrs. Hough pointed to one of Mr. Deasy’s lessons: asking his students to recreate a painting of the Last Supper. After studying daVinci’s famous work, the students were directed to pick and research an apostle. “Mike was able to roll history, philosophy, religion, art, and drama all into one project,” she said.

On transitioning from student to teacher, Mr. Deasy said, “I think it means a lot to people who taught me that I returned to teach here.

What my teachers did for me and do for young people on a daily

basis is important, and I recognize that. I think it is one of the highest honors to teach a student and then see them teach someone else.”

One day Mr. Deasy was teaching grammar to a group of eight seventhgraders. After asking what grammar actually was, he saw eight hands go up — and each student had a different answer. “Today begins our journey into the world of grammar. To those of you who think you’re bad at grammar, I respectfully disagree.”

He had his students watch a video of Christopher Lee dramatically reading Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky. What fun they had playing with the nonsense words and assigning them parts of speech. Pens and pencils raced to paper and the students eagerly showed Mr. Deasy what they’d learned.

“Slithy toves” aside, he was so enthusiastic about this grammar lesson, and the students were, too.

Beyond the classroom, Mr. Deasy coaches the boys’ varsity soccer, middle school lacrosse, and junior varsity basketball teams. He’s also an assistant coach for boys’ varsity basketball. His goal is for each of his teams to be the best they can be that day, a philosophy he learned from former coach Peter Conzett. “Even if we win or lose, did we play our best as a team? In moments like that, Mr. Conzett had a tremendous ability to convey what matters about sports, and I try to emulate that.”

Mr. Deasy recognizes that these are big shoes to fill. “What Lalise represents is a belief in every student she teaches and the power of that individual’s mind. Her Rhetoric class epitomizes the values of Falmouth Academy that we as a faculty all try to model.”

Mrs. Hough said of the selection: “Mike shares with Lalise the gift of making each student feel as if he or she is being taught individually.

That is why he is such a logical choice to take on the Rhetoric class. Like Lalise, Mike manages to draw deep, deep thought from students in a playful manner.”

Mrs. Melillo has complete confidence in her successor. “Mike took the course as a senior and was a wonderful student — eager, thoughtful and eloquent. He also seemed to understand with particular insight the value of what we were doing. He brings these qualities to his teaching at Falmouth Academy, and he is a particularly appropriate choice for this course because he is a great reader, a deep thinker and a fine speaker.

“Next year’s students will not only love and admire him, but they will also learn from him in ways that will be significant in their lives,” said Mrs. Melillo. “They will be in good hands.”

After graduating from Falmouth Academy, Mr. Deasy and 2010 classmate Ben Bianchini cycled the length of France before attending the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. One of his greatest joys on the trip was “discovering the power of the written word. In writing letters and postcards, you learn to make every word count.” He builds on his love of language in his current summer studies, working on a master’s degree in English through Middlebury College’s Breadloaf program.

Sharing this commitment to the written and spoken word is his dream, and next fall, he will receive the Rhetoric torch when Lalise Melillo retires in June after 40 years at Falmouth Academy. “Teaching Rhetoric is something I love. It’s where I want to go as a teacher,” he said.

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Because he’s generally younger (26) than his audience, Dylan said it is very important to emphasize his experience. “I tell my personal story and talk about issues facing Falmouth, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Then I explain my experience serving as political director for Attorney General Maura Healey and staffer for Elizabeth Warren.

I try to connect these three large topics, as I move my speech along smoothly.”

In 2013, as a field officer working for Senator Edward Markey, Dylan was told on a Friday night that he had to make a speech on Saturday, sharing the stage not only with the Massachusetts senator but also with Vice President Joseph Biden. “To get over my nerves, I had to practice over and over — and also take very deep breaths during my speech.”

At Falmouth Academy’s All-School Meeting after the class, Dylan said, “Falmouth Academy taught me to grow as a member of a broader community.” Dylan also recalled participating in the Athens-Sparta Debate in ninth-grade Western Civilization I., for which he was a member of the Athenian team — an appropriate foreshadowing of his commitment to the democratic process. – Barbara Campbell

On the Stump What could be more relevant than a lesson on the rhetoric of politics?

Prior to the state primary and general election, Falmouth Academy students in Lalise Melillo’s Rhetoric course were fortunate to have a visit from Dylan Fernandes ’08, who spoke about the process of presenting himself and his ideas to voters during his run for the Massachusetts House of Representatives (which he ultimately won).

Dylan, a lifelong resident of Falmouth, explained his strategy: “You must share your background and where you come from because you’re talking to people who have never heard of you. It’s important to tell stories to show why you’re running and to convey why you should be elected.”

Alumni Gala Beneficiary Hires Alumna You never know where connections will happen.

When Lily Patterson ’14, a junior in the Honors Program at Fordham University, was looking for internships, she applied to charity: water, an organization based in New York City that helps people construct wells for clean and safe drinking water in developing nations.

Coincidentally, the organization had been the chosen beneficiary of the proceeds from Falmouth Academy’s Gala 2012, run by Student Council — which proved to be a great connection for her. A video clip showing villagers of Goniguer, Ethiopia thanking Falmouth Academy can be found at https://vimeo.com/38934877. The FA donation benefitted 300 people.

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Lily works in the Marketing Department on the Supporter Experience team. She posts to the organization’s Facebook platform and responds to those who have questions about the website. While her job involves basic customer service, Lily said, “Interacting with users and

White House Diary

By Bridget Miskell '07

After living in Washington, D.C., for nine years, there was still one major item on my bucket list: visiting the White House.

I thought I'd catch an East Wing tour with friends, or visit the Bowling Alley. I didn't think my first visit would involve (literal) fanfare.

I work for the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, which is the private foundation of the Marriott family. In 2013, the foundation made a gift to the Smithsonian's National Museum for African American History & Culture. At that point, construction of the museum was well underway, and when the museum announced that it would open in September, we were lucky enough to be included in the grand opening celebrations on September 23 and 24.

The highlight of the weekend for me was the Presidential Reception at the White House on the eve of the museum opening. I attended with a colleague — and didn’t know quite what to expect.

We arrived and waited in line to go through multiple Secret Service and security checks — no one would be crashing this party. We then entered the White House through the East Wing and were greeted by a gospel choir and then left to explore the China Room, the receiving rooms, and the State Dining Room. The majesty and history of every inch of the building was completely breathtaking. We walked through the Kennedy Garden and were treated to a performance by the Tennessee State Marching Band on the lawn, which we watched from the stairs of the portico.

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explaining every aspect of the organization has taught me about charity: water from all points of view, a perspective that not many of the other interns have.”

Lily has enjoyed her internship mostly because of the people she works with. “The interns have real responsibilities and are accepted as part of the company right away,” she said. “charity: water cares about its interns in the same way it cares about its donors’ gifts and about the people the donations are going to help. As I get deeper into the organization and learn more, I’m increasingly impressed with the work charity: water is doing.”

One of her favorite things there is a program called “Intern Brown Bags,” where staff members have lunch with the interns and tell them about their jobs and career paths.

Learn more about the organization at www.charitywater.org.

Guests gathered outside the Blue Room to await the main event — remarks from President Obama, accompanied by the First Lady. His incredibly emotional speech came at the end of a week with two police shootings and in the midst of a tense election. Standing side by side with civil rights leaders, prominent businessmen, athletes, musicians — all who had waited their whole lives to see the museum come to fruition — he gave us all hope that America has indeed made progress towards racial equality.

A brief excerpt from President Obama’s speech: “When I imagine children — white, black, Latino, Asian, Native American — wandering through that museum, sitting at that lunch counter and imagining what it would be like to stand on that auction block, and then also looking at Shaq’s shoes, and Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac, my hope is that this complicated, difficult, sometimes harrowing but, I believe, ultimately triumphant story will help us talk to each other. And more importantly listen to each other. And even more importantly see each other and recognize the common humanity that makes America what it is.”

After his speech ended, the President and First Lady walked forward to greet guests. I had a chance to shake their hands and exchange a few words with each of them to thank them for their service, although the exact encounter was a blur after the First Lady casually greeted me, saying, “Hey, sweetie!”

The next day at the museum dedication I only had a chance to peek into the museum, but I am looking forward to having time to take it all in soon. It tells a dark and powerful story, but one that is full of hope. And it is a story that reminds us, especially right now, of Martin Luther King Jr.’s words: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

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