Aiglon Magazine | Issue 21 (Winter 2023/2024)

ISSUE 21 WINTER 2023/24 School It’s good to talk – why peer mentoring is a win for juniors and seniors Mountain Aiglonians working to save our polar landscapes – and our planet Ideas How gathering together is an essential part of the human experience People Celebrate our 75th anniversary by – what else? – going on expedition SWITZERLAND

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AIGLONOLOGY

WINTER 2023/24

Contents SWITZERLAND

Aiglonology 05 View from the mountain 06 On campus 07 News 08 Together 09 Diary 11 Here’s looking at you 12 Gallerist 14 Around the mountain

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Incredible discoveries among the archives – it’s the story of Aiglon.

The Academic Peer Mentors making connections across the school.

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Meet the Aiglonians battling to save our global snowscapes.

What better way to celebrate our 75th anniversary than with an expedition?

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When we come together as a group, special things happen. But why?

Hitting the slopes with competitive ski racer Jimena Cierco Martinez.

History in the making 38 Class notes 39 Tributes 43 Alumni office update 45 Recreation 46 Personal best 48 Hometown

Snowing, snowing, gone The Aiglon Magazine is published twice a year, in the winter and summer, and is sent free to Aiglonians. It is available to other readers on subscription. The opinions expressed in The Aiglon Magazine are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of Aiglon College.

Face time

Global Expedition Series

Editor: Seth Barker YBM Editor: Mira Katbamna YBM Managing Editor: Steve McGrath YBM Designer: Kate Monument Produced for Aiglon College by YBM www.ybm.co.uk

www.aiglon.ch

The Gathering

Racing to the top

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EDITORS’ LETTER

LIFE IN THE FA S T L A N E Our active community make it an exciting time to be on the mountain.

Photography by Joe McGorty, illustration by James Olstein

Lucy Jay-Kennedy (Clairmont, 1999) and Seth Barker, Communications Office Send your comments to communications@aiglon.ch

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Every day is unique here on the mountain, but just recently it’s seemed as though we’ve had more special days than ever. Whether that’s welcoming Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn on to campus to launch our exclusive new collaboration, or news of the biggest gift in the school’s history to help establish the Moghadam Campus Hub, life continues to move at an incredible pace.

In this issue, we capture some of that excitement.

To celebrate our 75th anniversary in 2024, we have launched a Global Expedition Series, letting you relive those special moments on expedition, and you can find out how you can get involved on page 28. The Series will tap into the expertise of our alumni community, and that’s something we also feature on page 22, where we meet the Aiglonians who are battling to save our global snowscapes – and our planet.

Elsewhere, on page 34, we find out how special things happen when we come together as a group, such as Aiglon’s new Gathering and Scattering events.

And, on page 16, we feature the Academic Peer Mentoring programme that is having such a positive impact on students across our school.

Our new editorial team, introducing Lucy Jay-Kennedy, our Director of Communications & Marketing, alongside Seth Barker, look forward to hearing from you at communications@aiglon.ch.

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Letters

Stories to share? Feedback?

Suggestions? We love to hear your thoughts. Get in touch and join the Aiglon conversation.

On kindness

ON THE COVER Kotaro Hamanaka (La Baita, 2029), who is one of many students benefiting from the Academic Peers Mentor programme (see page 16).

I really enjoyed the feature addressing the attribute of kindness (On Kindness, Issue 20), and I cannot help but be reminded of this and other lessons taught by the staff at Aiglon. The best lessons are taught not by speaking, but by setting examples. Lady Forbes, born in South Africa in the heart of Apartheid yet spending her remaining years in Chesières-Villars, was likely the kindest individual I have ever met. She displayed this attribute to everything she encountered, be it a person, an animal or even a landscape. Lady Forbes believed kindness showed respect and value, and her behaviour shared with us the value of this attribute.

Many life-altering influences came from attending Aiglon.

Housemaster Robert (Bertie) Boas taught me the love of music, in particular opera, which has continued to this day. Group Captain Watts demonstrated integrity. His comments before the showing of the movie The Battle of Britain, helped convince me that there are some things more important than mere survival. I became a Navy pilot because of Groupie.

Teddy Senn? He taught me the value, and joy of writing - the best way to express oneself in words.

And his love of Shakespeare?

Unforgettable. This he passed on to all his students and

today, as a classroom teacher, I follow the examples he set.

We weren’t all perfect, and none of us remain so to this day. But to the staff at Aiglon I say, “Thank you for helping make me the person I am today. Good job, all of you.”

Jim Thurber (Delaware, 1970)

Coming together I was delighted to learn that there is a feature on “gathering” in this issue of the magazine (see page 34), since Aseanto Oudang (Belvedere 1999) and I were able to see the positive impact of an Aiglon coming together just this year. We were lucky enough to attend Aiglon’s Shout (previously House Music Competition). We were both so impressed by the quality of the performers!

And as responsible members of the Aiglon community, we accepted the duty to be the judges on the night.

It was truly amazing to see the entire school come together to have so much fun.

It was a great flashback to our time here – only this was bigger and better. And as an added bonus, we were able to have a mini-reunion in Geneva later in the evening, where we met up with Joy Hauville (Clairmont, 1997) and Xavier Gaul (1997) for our own fantastic gathering.

Dmitri Dogaev (Belvedere, 2000)

Join the conversation! www.aiglonlife.ch email: communications@aiglon.ch write to: The Aiglon Magazine, Aiglon College, Avenue Centrale 61, 1885 Chesières, Switzerland Facebook: www.facebook.com/aiglon Twitter: @aigloncollege Instagram: @aiglonswitzerland

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V I E W F R O M T H E M O U N TA I N

A C U LT U R E OF GIVING Landmark $6m gift will leave a lasting and tangible legacy for our school.

Photography Joe McGorty

ECENTLY, IN A RARE MOMENT of calm, I was watching the builders work on our new Assembly and Dining building on the Orchard Site. Back in March, when we started work, it seemed impossible that a building would one day rise from that bare patch of ground. But we trusted our team to create something amazing – and every day, we come closer to achieving just that.

It got me thinking about our school’s philanthropy journey. How all the wonderful people who make a philanthropic gift to Aiglon – whether big or small – also put their faith in us to use it wisely. It’s a great thing to have the funds for projects we know will benefit students – a scholarship, a sports hall, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But it’s just as inspiring to know that our donors see us as worthy stewards.

They share our vision. They believe in our goals.

I felt that sense of trust and shared vision very deeply when, in August, we were honoured to receive the biggest gift in the school’s history. Alumnus Hamid Moghadam (Alpina, 1973) and his wife Tina have generously donated $6m towards the Assembly and Dining project – a gift that will leave a lasting and tangible impact on Aiglon’s campus.

Hamid and Tina are wonderful examples for our students, having forged hugely successful careers in real estate and law. They believe, as we do, in the importance of education as a catalyst for positive change. In acknowledgement of their generosity, Aiglon will name the building complex the Moghadam

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Nicola Sparrow, School Director.

It’s inspiring to know that our donors see us as worthy stewards: they share our vision, they believe in our goals

Campus Hub, and by giving their name to this centrepiece building, we hope Hamid and Tina will be a constant source of inspiration for current and future students – encouraging them to achieve great things, while emphasising the importance of giving back.

Their support is a landmark gift. But it is just one aspect of a culture of philanthropy at Aiglon. We have been thrilled by the number of parents who have been inspired to support the installation of a new gym at Exeter – giving more than CHF 40,000 in total – just as we were inspired by the family, passionate about ebiking, who have enabled us to create a five-year programme with 16 bikes, a mechanic, programme coordinator and BMX group that has sparked an explosion in biking at Aiglon. Many members of our community have shown immense generosity in supporting our scholarship programme – scholars who themselves have gone on to give in later years.

Now, when I walk past what will be the Moghadam Campus Hub, I see in my mind’s eye not just the students and staff gathering here for all those events that make our community so special. I see, also, all the alumni and friends of Aiglon all over the world who believe in us, joining us in celebration. I can’t wait to stand at its doors and welcome you all in.

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ON CAMPUS

L A B O R ATO RY CONDITIONS Science teaching at Aiglon is getting a serious facelift, with redeveloped and new classrooms and labs.

Photography Joe McGorty

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Refurbished labs In the first phase of the redevelopment, two labs have been completely refurbished and updated to provide modern teaching spaces with a focus on collaborative experimental work.

News

The latest news from the Aiglon community and beyond.

To find out more, visit www.aiglon.ch/latest-news

Lindsey Vonn partners with Aiglon

We were thrilled to welcome Olympic champion alpine skier Lindsey Vonn for her first visit to campus recently, to launch her partnership with Aiglon.

This new, unique collaboration will offer every Aiglon skier the opportunity for a world-class skiing education, and Ms Vonn will help establish and maintain Aiglon’s new high-performance athletes and sport innovation programme.

The wonder years

Getting physical

In the classroom

By summer 2024, two further physics and two more biology labs will be updated. Here, a physics lesson in one of the smaller multipurpose labs shows the greater flexibility of teaching spaces and innovative lab design, providing a student-centred learning environment with an emphasis on collaboration.

The end result of the redevelopment could ultimately see a complete refit of the teaching classroom, making it a fully functioning additional science lab.

The updated facilities will support practical work across the science curriculum, with a focus on investigative skills.

A new programme will come to Aiglon at the start of the next academic year. The Wonder Years is developed around the idea of a Mountain School, enabling Aiglon students from Years 3 to 6 to become fully immersed in the local environment while taking full advantage of all that Aiglon has to offer. See www.aiglon.ch/wonder-years for more.

Clean sweep on IB passes

It was another massively impressive year for graduating Aiglon students, with a 100 per cent IB pass rate and 85 per cent achieving over 30 in the IB diploma. Learn more about Aiglonian achievements in 2023 in our Annual Review at www.aiglon.ch/about/not-for-profit-culture

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OWN IN THE BASEMENT OF THE JOHN Corlette building (JCB), in what used to be a bomb shelter, a surprise is waiting.

In stacks of dusty boxes, you’ll find photos, slides, film reels, old papers, reports, obituaries, newsletters – in short, the story of Aiglon.

In January 2023, librarian Ms Natasha Storey took on the role of Archive Manager and enlisted the help of students to go through the boxes: classify, label and digitise, and pick out the best photos for a glossy 75th anniversary book, to be published in January 2024.

Only one student still visits the archives regularly – self-confessed “history nerd” Emma Wurts (Clairmont, 2024). “I can’t stop now!” she says. “It’s so satisfying to see it evolve. Every time I go, I find something new about the school, which is so awesome to me. The photos are the best – groups hanging out in dorms in the 80s, old Aiglon vans, PE kits, the science labs in Clairmont, sports days.”

Of course, she’s always looking out for her mum, Julie Betscher (Clairmont, 1983). “I saw her name on the ski race leader board, and she was in photos from a Cultural Learning Experience trip to Venice in 1982 that she had told me about. My friends are a bunch of alumni kids, so I look out for their parents too.”

There is wisdom in those boxes, too, in copies of meditations dispensed years before. “The meditations are like cool essays that talk about something random

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TOGETHER

H I S TO RY I N THE MAKING Aiglon’s archives have a new team who are making incredible discoveries together.

Words Megan Welford Photography Joe McGorty 8

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Diary Save the date with our guide to key moments in the Aiglon year.

Deep dive

Archive Manager Ms Natasha Storey and Year 13’s Emma Wurts delve through the Aiglon archive in the basement of the JCB building.

and then tie it in to a moral. John Corlette talked about taking advantage of your freedom and finding strength within you. Philip Parsons’ was handwritten, starting about a trip to a small church in New York and ending with being able to see the bigger picture.”

You need diligence for this work, but mainly curiosity, says Ms Storey. “Emma is curious, and patient. After six months we’re finding the patterns, we’re recognising faces, so it’s getting a bit easier.”

Ms Storey is fascinated by the speed of technological change revealed by the boxes.

“There are objects in there the students have never seen before – floppy discs, photo negatives and 16mm film reels. Some work had been done in transferring VHS tapes onto DVDs, but now we’re moving the DVDs on to computer! The photos from the 50s and 60s are very nice quality – I suppose when photography was rare, people made more effort. From the 60s and 70s there are little slides in their neat boxes. Then there are loads of photos until the early 2000s, when they stop as digital cameras emerged.

“The tech changes, but the people… not so much. I have to remind the students that, even when the photos are black and white, life was always in colour! And what they do hasn’t really changed – students always went to the library, did sports and went on expeditions.”

“Aiglon is still such a special place,” says Emma.

“The school has evolved but the values, such as mind, body, spirit, have stayed the same. John Corlette’s objectives hold true today, and here you can see it all.”

8 JANUARY

Founder’s Day Aiglon officially opens its 75th anniversary celebrations on Founder’s Day, where we celebrate John Corlette’s visionary view of education. The first event sees the launch of the Aiglon archives, available at www.aiglon.ch/archives.

25–28 JANUARY

Villars Ski Weekend All are welcome for this long ski weekend, featuring a welcome reception, ski races and free skiing, torchlight descent, fondue at the Palace and farewell brunch.

For more details, visit www.aiglon.ch/75th 2 7 – 3 0 M AY

Domaine de Barbossi An exclusive four-day escape featuring activities, culture, excursions and fun within the Aiglon community hosted by alumni parents Iskandar and Clara Safa.

In return for their hospitality, the Safa family asks that each guest make a minimum gift of CHF 1,000 to Aiglon’s Scholarship Fund. For full details and to sign up, visit www.aiglon.ch/barbossi For more information or to share events, contact communications@aiglon.ch

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H E R E ’ S L O O K I N G AT YO U

A LIFE OF D E D I CAT I O N Shireen Sindi is committed to improving dementia sufferers’ lives and says the support she received at Aiglon made it all possible.

Words Sarah Woodward Research specialist Shireen Sindi is Assistant Professor at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, is a member of the Aiglon College Association and currently serves as an ACSSA Director.

HIREEN SINDI DOES NOT LACK gumption. Take the moment during her Lower Sixth year when she found herself standing in a lake, in Hungary, at dawn. Fishing out weeds.

“I was on a two week Round Square project with seven other students and two teachers, helping to protect the natural habitat of a threatened species of bird. We were sleeping in tents in the middle of nowhere, with no fridge and no mobile phone signal – tired and hungry. It was tough but rewarding. I cared about the birds, but I also knew that I had a deep-seated interest in helping children or vulnerable members of society.”

Back then, Shireen wasn’t exactly sure where that determination would take her. Today she is Assistant Professor at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, where her research focuses on risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia, including stress, sleep and biological markers, with evidence from normal ageing to Alzheimer’s disease. But back then, her house tutor had said: ‘I can really imagine you as an academic.’ “But I didn’t even know what that meant,” says Shireen.

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Shireen credits Aiglon with giving her the confidence to reach her goal of working in a profession with societal impact. “I received great support when I decided to study psychology as an undergraduate,” she says. “Aiglon allowed me the space to learn about myself.

“I came to the school from a very different educational background, in Saudi Arabia, and felt like I had been thrown in at the deep end. I had to work hard to catch up but soon realised that in this very international environment, everyone had their own story to tell. We were encouraged to challenge ourselves.”

Shireen became School Guardian in her final year and relished the responsibility. “I was the link between the student body and the senior management team – my first leadership role.

And I went with the headmaster to events for prospective students.”

Getting to do research at one of the world’s leading science research institutions has not been without challenges. “I work very long hours and, even here in progressive Sweden, only 30 per cent of the professors at my university are women. But I am fascinated by why older adults age differently and how lifestyle factors may contribute. Never has the world’s population seen so many older people and, as a result, we are seeing more neuro-degenerative conditions. It is a huge challenge for society.”

Shireen’s chosen career as a scientific researcher has led her to work in many different countries and cultures. “One of my most striking memories from school was changing roommates three times a year, every term. I feel that made me a person who is not only more tolerant of others, but who embraces the differences between people. I owe that, and the mindset to look for opportunities, to my time at Aiglon.”

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GALLERIST

PICTURE PERFECT Anniversary poster competition showcases students’ creativity and talent.

Illustration Mads Berg

Reflecting our heritage, embracing the future

In anticipation of our 75th anniversary celebrations throughout 2024 and 2025, we launched a poster competition.

The brief to students was to reflect the anniversary’s theme – Reflecting our Heritage and Embracing the Future – in a retro, tourist-style poster.

We are pleased to announce the two student winners: Nia Erickson (Clairmont, 2027) and Celia Evans (Le Cerf, 2026).

The judges felt that both entries encapsulated what it means to be an Aiglonian, and Celia’s entry has been further developed to create a poster to mark the 75th anniversary.

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Collectors’ item

Have you got yours yet?

This unique and exclusive poster is available to buy as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations, a chance to have a little bit of Aiglon in your home forever. To order your copy, contact the Alumni Office.

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A R O U N D T H E M O U N TA I N

ON THE ICE There’s been a hockey club in Villars for more than 100 years, and it’s still going strong.

Words Sarah Woodward

T’S JUST AN AVERAGE NIGHT IN Villars-sur-Ollon. But at the Patinoire de Villars, as the players take to the ice in a blur of blue and yellow, cheers break out around the stadium. Villars’ ice hockey team are on form, and hundreds, maybe thousands, of fans have gathered, roaring in unison for their local favourites.

This scene is far from unique. In fact, there’s been an ice hockey team in Villars-sur-Ollon for more than a century and, while there have been ups and downs in that time, the side is currently enjoying a renaissance, and the crowds are back – in force.

“It’s like the old days when the whole village turned out to support us!” says club president Michael Bochatay. “It’s wonderful to see former players come back with their families. There are often teachers from Aiglon in the crowd too, with their children.”

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Michael started on the ice aged five and, by the age of 16, was playing for Hockey Club (HC) Villars Under 20s in the top junior league – and cheering on the first team in league matches. He went on to play professionally, first for Lausanne, then La Chaux-deFonds. But when Michael returned to Villars in 2015 after a decade away, he found things had changed.

“The club was slowly sinking into the ground,” he says. “It wasn’t the finances – there simply weren’t enough young players coming through.” The club had come a long way from the glory days of the 1960s, when it twice reached the finals of the Coupe de Suisse, and was now at the bottom of League 3.

Michael and some of his local friends got together to form a new committee and encourage young players back to the club. There were fewer than 20 youth members when Michael returned to Villars eight years ago, but today there are more than 70, aged 4 to 20, as well as the senior team players. It is a club on the up.

AIGLONOLOGY

On the up

There has been an ice hockey team in Villars since the early part of the last century, and the team was promoted to League 2 of the Suisse Romande Championship in 2022..

It is again like the old days when the whole village turned out to support us. And it’s wonderful to see former players come back with their families When they are not playing, the club members are often seen at local events, manning the food and drinks stand and selling club merchandise – which brings in much-needed revenue. All amateurs, the team includes lawyers, construction workers, students and office employees, but all have a dedication to bring success back to the Patinoire de Villars.

Already back at the top of Group 3 in the second league, last year HC Villars 1908 were undefeated in their home matches. The ambition is to get the club back into the top league – where it belongs, says Michael.

“Ice hockey is a great team sport – I relish the speed and the tactics, the precision needed. I tell the children it’s like rugby on skates! We train hard all year round, even in summer, but we get our reward when we have a home match. It’s wonderful to know that some of the youngsters cheering us on will soon be training with us.”

Insider P L AY

Ice hockey only became the local sport on the Villardou plateau at the beginning of the 20th century, replacing ‘bandy’ which had been introduced by the English working in the region.

FOUNDED

HISTORY

WINNERS

WATC H

1908 refers to the year the Swiss Ice Hockey League was founded, in November of the 1908-09 season.

HC Villars was among the initial eight founding clubs.

In the 1920s, HC Villars was called VillarsBellerive, due to the fact that the Bellerive Institute of La Tourde-Peilz, a centre of education, spent the winter in Chesières.

In 1925 the club went to the Coupe Jean Potin in Paris as the Swiss national team. In 1963, and again in 1964, a team made up of mostly local players won the Swiss National Championship.

Entry to home matches at the Patinoire de Villars, Rue du Village 8, 1884 Villars-sur-Ollon is free for all the family. There is a ‘buvette’ selling snacks like raclette and hot dogs, as well as drinks.

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Elin Turner (Le Cerf, 2024) remembers how nerve-wracking it was the first few times walking into La Baita, but soon found her feet. “I soon realised that it’s not just about academics, it’s about understanding that people are unique, and finding the best way to teach them. I really love the idea of creating a web of students across the school, trying to help each other.”

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Words Megan Welford Photography Joe McGorty

TIME

Developing leadership skills.

Helping with prep. Or just a good chat.

Aiglon’s Academic Peer Mentor programme connects students from across the school, – with a positive impact on everyone.

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PEER MENTORS

usually nominated by their Houseparent. One part of the programme sees senior students – in Years 12 and 13 – offer support to the younger ones. Their core activity is to go into La Casa and La Baita and help the juniors with their prep, but they also might read to them or help them with language skills.

“We are looking for students who are very strong academically, either across the curriculum or in a particular area,” says Ms Downing. “But we’re also looking for those who want to give back – to mentor, teach and guide other students. The ones who can be found in the common areas of their House, who have their doors open, who we know won’t mind giving up their own prep to go and help others with theirs.”

If it sounds like a win-win situation, that’s because it is. We asked members of the programme to explain why.

R A C H E L A N D S AYA K O

ver at the Junior School, Year 13 Rachel is known simply as ‘the Wednesday girl’ – the senior who comes over to help the juniors with their prep.

Juniors don’t care that Rachel is part of Aiglon’s Academic Peer Mentor (APM) programme. They are not even that interested in why she always comes on a Wednesday. But they value her friendship.

And they love that she’s a part of their world at school – a reliable, kind older sister figure, who can play her part in their Aiglon family.

The brainchild of Director of University Advising, Mrs Patience Fanella-Koch, the APM programme invites students across the school to offer support to each other. “Patience’s idea was to find a way to help students find community and support among each other,” says Associate Director of University Advising, Ms Elizabeth Downing. It’s partly about developing leadership skills in the older students – working together, leading meetings, having challenging conversations – but also creating a “bastion of creativity”, where the seniors need to think about how to establish relationships with the Junior School.

Now in its sixth year, the programme has a core team of six student leaders, supported by Ms Downing, managing around 30 senior mentors,

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“I used to go into La Baita on a Wednesday to supervise prep, and because the boys didn’t know my name, I soon became ‘the Wednesday Girl!’” says Rachel Erhag (Clairmont, 2024). “I thought it was such a cool opportunity – the Senior and Junior Schools don’t always overlap, and I really wanted to be involved in breaking down some of those barriers.”

Over in La Casa, junior Sayako Terada (current Year 9), was not feeling quite so positive about it.

“My Houseparent, Ms Luco, told me I was going to have a conversation with a Senior School girl to help my English, and I didn’t want to do it!” she remembers.

“I was scared to talk to a senior girl.” Sayako had joined Aiglon from Japan at the end of Year 7, and was struggling with the language. “I wasn’t comfortable speaking in English,” she says, “so I spent all my time hanging out with Japanese friends.”

But Rachel – now School Guardian, in Round Square, student ambassador, sports player and

I used to go into La Baita on a Wednesday, and because the boys didn’t know my name, I became ‘the Wednesday Girl’!

Rachel Erhag (Clairmont, 2024) is School Guardian, in Round Square, student ambassador, sports player and happy, smiling face around school. “I thought it was such a cool opportunity – the Senior and Junior Schools don’t always overlap, and I really wanted to be involved in breaking down some of those barriers.”

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Hiroshi Tokunaga (Belvedere, 2024) is co-leader – with Elin Turner – of this year’s Academic Peer Mentor programme. “It’s really rare and really nice to have friends outside of your year group and your house. When I was a junior, I really looked up to the seniors. Now I’m a senior, I remember that feeling, and I want to help create proper relationships with the juniors.”

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It wasn’t bribery exactly, but he couldn’t show me the thing he’d brought to show me until the prep was done

“happy, smiling face around school” – is quick to jump to her defence. “Your English is so good now,” she says, although she admits it wasn’t straightforward at first. “It was like when your parents force you to make friends with someone and it’s so awkward! But I didn’t have an agenda.

I asked her about Japan and her family, and after a while it started flowing.”

Sayako agrees. “I can remember at first I was so nervous,” she says. “I was just answering the questions she asked me. But Rachel was so friendly and so nice that I could talk to her straight away.

By our third session it was relaxing. I could talk about what was happening in Junior School in Year 8, about the gossip.” Rachel lights up. “Yes! There was so much drama, I loved it!” she laughs. “We became much less formal and could just joke about things and feel comfortable.”

“By the time I went to Senior School I wasn’t scared about it anymore,” says Sayako. “Rachel had given me so much knowledge. I was so happy to be put in Clairmont, because Clairmont had Rachel! Now I feel so nice when I see her around the school.” Rachel couldn’t agree more: “We know we’ve got each other!”

H I R O S H I A N D TA I K I

Hiroshi Tokunaga (Belvedere, 2024), co-leader with Elin Turner of this year’s APM programme, was asked to help Taiki Lee (Year 9) with his studies, but ended up being helped with his own efforts to learn Japanese. “I grew up in China so I speak Chinese, but my Japanese is not fluent. Taiki was very patient with me, and corrected me nicely, he never made me feel embarrassed about my Japanese. I helped him with maths and science, I told him about my friends and my teachers. He taught me Japanese words and told a lot of jokes.”

Working with Taiki wasn’t a chore, says Hiroshi, it was really natural. “Every time I went, we became better friends. Taiki is a really positive person, he brings me joy and makes me laugh. It really made me

happy. It was time off from the real world of Senior School, where there’s a lot of work. It was like going back to a more fun, carefree time. And even though Taiki is a senior himself now, we still see each other a lot and stop and chat.”

The admiration goes both ways. “Hiroshi is very friendly and kind,” says Taiki. “He chats about everything, and I like his hairstyle! He has so many friends, and he’s talked about me to other seniors, so more people are friendly with me. Without this programme I would never have been friends with someone in Year 12. Now that I’m a senior I want to be nice to the Year 8s and 9s. I try to talk to the younger ones.”

“It’s really rare and really nice to have friends outside of your year group and your house,” continues Hiroshi. “When I was a junior, I really looked up to the seniors. Now I’m a senior, I remember that feeling, and I want to help create proper relationships with the juniors.”

ELIN AND ALEXANDER

Elin Turner (Le Cerf, 2024) remembers just how nerve-racking it was, the first few times she went into La Baita to “help a load of boys not wanting to do prep”. “Finding that balance between creating good relationships while getting them to do work was difficult at first. But with Alexander, we found a niche.”

“I was very behind on my prep,” remembers Alexander Freidheim (Year 8). “The school I was at before was very different and we didn’t really have homework. But Elin helped me to understand the task, and the work became easier. She wasn’t strict, she just helped me see it in a different way. I’m more confident now when I come across challenges.”

“It wasn’t bribery exactly,” smiles Elin, “but he couldn’t ask me about my favourite horror film, or about my pets, or show me the thing he’d brought to show me, until we’d got the prep done. Alexander has a great imagination and he’s very energetic and motivated, but there are some things he’s not passionate about, like prep!”

“I’d start talking about something else and slowly try to move my chair away,” Alexander says.

“And she’d say: ‘Hmm, there is still one bit we haven’t done.’ So I learnt that if you actually put your mind to it, then prep can be pretty easy.”

“And I learnt patience!” says Elin. “I really honed that. I soon realised that it’s not just about academics, it’s about understanding that people are unique, and finding the best way to teach them.

I want to be a doctor, and I know that it won’t just be about medicine, but also getting the patient into the right space, making sure they’re OK. This programme has helped massively. I really love the idea of creating a web of students across the school, trying to help each other.”

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S N O W I N G, S N O W I N G, G O N E Our global snowscapes – from the Alps to the Arctic and Antarctic – are undergoing dramatic change.

Meet the Aiglonians who are pushing back.

Words Jo Caird Images Jean de Pomereu

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It’s often said the polar regions are the canary in the coalmine when it comes to the impacts of global warming. The Alps are also a canary, but they’re visible – this is one of the places you can physically see it 24

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covers around 11 per cent of the earth’s surface – around 18 million sq km – and has been present in some locations for more than 700,000 years.

But today, permafrost – defined as any underground location that stays frozen for more than two straight years – is under threat, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the human race.

In the Swiss Alps, melting permafrost is threatening the stability of mountain structures and causing an increase in rock avalanches. “I’ve been working in permafrost for 27 years now,” says Marcia Phillips (Exeter, 1987), a geographer at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos, Switzerland. “During that time, I’ve seen it warm up and disappear and collapse. The warming and the changes are taking place faster than ever before.

I can see them with my own eyes. It’s very worrying.”

She’s not the only Aiglonian who’s concerned about our global snowscapes. Dr Jean de Pomereu (Alpina, 1987) is Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge and an expert on the scientific and cultural history of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

The Echos series by Jean de Pomereu (Alpina, 1987) conveys the idea that nothing, not even the remotest regions of the earth, can escape human influence.

“Through incisions, tears and layering, Jean creates new topographies, echoing humanity’s transformation of terrestrial environments both directly and at a distance.” Support for this work is provided by the Polar Geospatial Center and the NSF-OPP.

“It’s often said that the polar regions are the canary in the coalmine when it comes to the impacts of global warming,” he says. “The Alps are also a canary, but they’re visible, they’re immediately experienced.

In terms of the communities we belong to, this is one of the places where you can physically see it.”

Marcia and Jean, who were in the same school year at Aiglon, took very different paths to reach their careers on the frontline of climate science. Marcia studied geography before completing a PhD at the SLF, while Jean read art history and pursued a career in screenwriting before making a sideways move to studying the history of exploration, science and climate change at the poles at Cambridge. Yet their time in Villars-sur-Ollon was formative for them both.

“Alpina has huge balconies with a view across the Rhone valley, one of the places where ice age theory was developed in the 19th century,” says Jean.

“I probably wasn’t paying much attention when we were taught about it, but I used to love sitting with that view. Aiglon was the perfect place to get interested in ice and snow.”

Marcia, for her part, simply loved getting out into the mountains, embracing every opportunity to go on expeditions with her classmates, including climbing Mont Blanc. It’s an environment she’s grateful to be able to work in today: “They are very humbling, these huge mountains. It can be horrible: snowing and windy and foggy, but when we’re lucky with the weather, it’s beautiful.”

The important work that takes her up into that sublime landscape involves drilling boreholes up to 65m into the rock of the high Alps. Into these boreholes are inserted temperature probes that take and log hourly measurements, giving an average daily temperature of the permafrost.

Returning to each borehole once or twice a year to read the digital logs – trips often involving helicopter flights and vertigo-inducing climbs – Marcia is able to use the data gathered to understand the rate at which the permafrost is melting, and produce models for future melting. “It’s warming by about 1°C per decade,” the geographer explains.

“And much of the permafrost is already very close to zero, so it doesn’t take much for it to melt.”

When it does, the consequences can be very serious indeed. “Infrastructure such as cable car stations has to be very stable. If the ground starts subsiding underneath them because we’re losing ice, then

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Jean de Pomereu’s “poetic and conceptual dialogue with the aerial photographs that constitute his primary material, bears witness and expresses humanity’s interdependence with each and every terrestrial environment.”

there’s a problem with their safety. And that’s why in Switzerland, they’re very closely monitored, and sometimes they have to be repaired or replaced.”

In fact, these changes are happening so fast that, in many locations, they’re actually visible to the naked eye, with holes and cracks appearing as the permafrost ice melts, water flows into the mountain and the ground shifts. In eastern Switzerland, a new phenomenon has seen some rivers running milky white due to the presence of aluminium that’s been released from the melting permafrost.

ACTION FIRST

The melting of the polar ice sheets is also a visual phenomenon – we’ve all seen the terrifying yet beautiful footage of icebergs calving off the edges of glaciers and crashing into the ocean. Yet these images can be misleading, explains Jean who, alongside his academic career, is a polar photographer and visual artist.

“These are natural processes that have always occurred, long before humans. Glaciers flow out, and eventually, as they reach the ocean, they break away.

Where climate change is visible is in measurements, not in the visual. You can’t photograph ice melting and say: ‘This is climate change.’ What changes is the frequency of these things.”

And yet, says Jean, confront the average person with the data – the fact that, since the 1990s, melting from the Greenland ice sheets has increased six to sevenfold, for example – and “they just shut down, because it’s too much to think about.”

This tension presents an enormous challenge for anyone invested in broadening understanding of the threat of climate change, Jean believes. “How do you bridge this?” he asks. The answer, perhaps, is through art. “I don’t bang on about climate change when contextualising my art. There has to be a sort of aesthetic appeal and then you can start unpacking the issue. But I think the primary thing is that there’s something striking about the imagery that draws people in, and then they can understand the mechanics behind it or the reason why it is what it is. They’re poetic gestures, they’re not literal explanations.”

Jean’s current artistic project – an extended series of works based on aerial photographs taken during

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the Cold War by the US Antarctic programme for the purposes of cartography – does just that.

“I’m reappropriating and reimagining these images that have otherwise become redundant,” he says.

“Through collage, cutting and reassembling, through transforming these images, I’m echoing the hand of man, our transformation of physical landscapes.”

That transformation, in warming terms, has been taking place since the Industrial Revolution, when carbon levels in the atmosphere began rising in an unprecedented way. In 800,000 years of the earth’s history (the period for which we have ice core samples), carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere did not exceed 260 parts per million (ppm). Today we’re at 420ppm and climbing. When they reach 450ppm, the Earth will have warmed by 2°C. This is worrying enough as it is, given the many negative impacts of climate change. But more worrying still – and not well enough understood by the general public, says Jean – is the fact that that it will take between 300 and 1,000 years for the carbon dioxide already in our atmosphere to disintegrate, meaning that even if humanity succeeds in its goal of reaching net zero emissions, the heat already absorbed by the atmosphere and the oceans will continue to melt the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets for centuries, raising sea levels by metres.

While Jean doesn’t consider himself an activist, it’s the “transmission of the magnitude of what’s happening in the polar regions” that motivates him.

“How do you help people connect these numbers and take them onboard?” he asks.

It’s an approach that guides Marcia too. In addition to her vital work monitoring the rate of melting permafrost, she is involved in outreach projects run by the SLF that engage with around 5,000 people each year. Not only is the SLF open year-round for guided tours, Marcia and her colleagues “take people into the field to actually see what’s happening”, and run courses and lectures on the science and the impacts of the melting.

She also speaks to the media whenever she can to raise awareness. “We don’t just write papers,” she says, summing up the Aiglonian ‘action first’ way – and emphasising that only by more of us waking up to the reality of the climate crisis do we have a chance of rising to these enormous challenges.

C L I M AT E C H A N G E

You can’t photograph ice melting and say: ‘This is climate change.’ But there’s something striking about the imagery that draws people in and then they can understand the mechanics behind it

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Always wanted to visit Colombia? What about Nairobi? Or Sydney? When was the last time you were in Villars? This year, we celebrate Aiglon’s 75th anniversary with – and what could be more Aiglon? – a year-long global... EXPEDITION! Words Lucy Jolin

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Illustration Rami Niemi

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G L O B A L E X P E D I AT I G O LNOSNEORLI GE Y S

his year, Aiglon celebrates 75 years. That’s 75 years of friendship, expedition and service; 75 years of academic success; 75 years of balancing the development of young people’s minds with the development of their bodies and spirits, too.

We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than to invite you – wherever you are in the world – to call your friends, dig out your rucksacks and hone your service and exploration instincts. Welcome to the Aiglon Global Expedition Series 2024.

“Aiglon graduates represent an incredible 123 nationalities,” says Mrs Karen Sandri, Director of Philanthropy and Community Engagement. “To celebrate the school’s 75th anniversary, we knew we had to make the most of that.

We found that there were many wonderful Aiglon graduates eager to host unique and carefully curated expeditions for alumni in all corners of the world during our anniversary year. At school, these trips are the heart and soul of everything we do. We wanted to do the same for our alumni, too.”

We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than to invite you – wherever you are in the world – to join us and hone your service and exploration instincts

INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCES

For instance, Ben Davies (Delaware, 2007) will host the Colombia Long Expedition at his hostel, El Rio, nestled in the jungle next to the Tayrona National Park. When Mrs Sandri asked if he would take part, he didn’t hesitate.

“I have so many great memories of Aiglon expeditions – cooking bacon over a fire on a mountainside, camping by the lake up at Bretaye, and just having an incredible time with my friends,” he says. “They were incredible experiences, and that’s what we’re hoping to recapture.”

Of course, so many of those incredible experiences were rooted in service – something that Ben has put at the heart of El Rio. “My co-founder Guy and I were determined to help people from this post-conflict area, which faces considerable challenges, and enable them to participate more in the tourism boom,” says Ben. “We realised that most hostels hired locals to do the cooking and cleaning, but brought in people from the cities to do the better-paid, managerial roles. We knew that was something we could change.”

Alongside thinking hard about who they hire, they set up the El Rio Foundation, which provides educational, sporting and environmental projects that positively impact the local community – from English classes for children and adults to art classes, recycling education and multi-sports clubs.

Everyone who stays at the hostel has the option to add a $1.30 Foundation donation to their bill.

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There is something very special about the invisible thread that binds the Aiglon community across the globe. You’ll be with people who all have one thing in common – your Aiglon experience

That integration means that members of the Aiglon community will experience something truly authentic, says Ben. There is, of course, an exciting programme of activities, from riding a tube down the Buritaca River to trekking to see the sun rise in the jungle and visiting the Quebrada Valencia waterfall. “None of these are compulsory – you can just chill by the river or the bar if you like!” he points out. “But you’ll also be able to visit these small Colombian towns, and see the work of the Foundation in action, even volunteering at our multi-sports event. You’ll witness what real life is like there.

And, of course, you’ll be with your old school friends.”

A H E A D O F T H E PAC K

Over in the UK, plans are underway for a completely different kind of expedition. Sport has always been a huge part of Aiglon life, and the school’s recent partnership with the champions of Europe, Manchester City Football Club, provides the perfect backdrop to a once-in-a-lifetime Global Expedition to the club’s home, the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.

“We want everyone – parents, students and graduates – to feel connected to our Manchester City partnership, and this is a brilliant way to do it,” says Mr Danny Thomson, Deputy Head of PE and Sport. “Our graduates have so many great memories and lifelong relationships forged as part of an Aiglon team. What better occasion could there possibly be to get your old teammates back together for something you’ll always remember?”

The expedition will include a private tour of the stadium and training ground – with a training session thrown in for the brave! – and the chance to see a Premier League game from one of the club’s private Platinum Boxes. “Partnerships like this are about taking what we can achieve at Aiglon up a level,” says School Director Mrs Nicola Sparrow. “They provide

opportunities for our community to try new things and develop new passions. We have always been a progressive school that engages with new things and has been at the cutting edge.

So we will continue to stay ahead of the pack.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, something truly unique is happening – current and past Aiglonians are coming together on the school’s annual service project in Thailand. Bangkok is the starting venue for the Global Series Thailand, which kicks off with a reception hosted

by Aiglon students and staff who will be part way through their service project, before moving on to the stunning island of Koh Chang, with its coral reefs, white-sand beaches, jungle hiking trails and quaint villages.

“There is something very special about the invisible thread that binds the Aiglon community across the globe,” says Alexander Demishin (Alpina, 2016), Aiglon’s Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement Officer. “I’ve been on the Thailand trip as both a student and a staff member, and I’m so excited to be organising the Long Expedition event,” he says. “I have always loved the Aiglon spirit and feeling of global community.

For me, the Global Expedition Series is all about forming new relationships and reinforcing old ones. You’ll be with people who all have one thing in common – your Aiglon experience.”

Mrs Sandri agrees. “There’s a beautiful quote from our Founder, John Corlette, who said the goal of education is being able to develop in people the love of all humankind, no matter what cultural background they’re from,” she says. “And the Global Expedition Series is a wonderful way to celebrate our diversity, and help our graduate community discover the truly global nature of Aiglon. We can’t wait to see you there – wherever that is!”

Global Expedition Series – sign up now

If you would like more details on these or other trips on the Global Expedition Series 2024 – including Sydney (February), India (October) and Kenya (November) – visit www.aiglon.ch/alumni/75th.

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THE GATHERING

Protest. Pilgrimage. Festivals.

Coming together en masse can be an incredibly moving, special and unique experience – but why is that? Why do we gather, and what is the impact?

Words Lucy Jolin

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oving as one: hearts, minds, bodies. Whether in protest, for celebration, prayer or comfort, coming together en masse is always a unique experience.

As the psychologist and father of modern crowd theory John Turner writes, crowds are “an adaptive mechanism that frees human beings from the restrictions of, and allows them to be more than just, individual persons”.

But when the opportunity to be part of a collective identity is lost, something else is lost, too, says Mr Tomas Duckling, Deputy School Director. Before the pandemic, he says, Aiglon met together as a school regularly. Indeed, these meetings – meditations, in particular – have always been a cornerstone of Aiglon life. “What makes Aiglon special is the people, the connections and our emphasis on character development,” says Mr Duckling. “Our meditations are extraordinary: the pin-drop silence is profound. I strongly believe that gathering to do something together has a fundamental impact on people’s behaviours and a fundamental impact, therefore, on their character development.”

And then, suddenly, gatherings were no longer possible – and their loss was keenly felt. “We began to see behavioural issues appear when we could no longer meet as a community, and here we realised the profound importance of gathering,” says Mr Duckling. “Not having meditation and not meeting as a group was having a significant impact on our understanding of formal traditions, of how to behave in groups, and our understanding of our basic founding principles. When restrictions were lifted, we were determined to come back together as swiftly as possible.”

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I strongly believe that gathering to do something together has a fundamental impact on people’s behaviours and a fundamental impact, therefore, on their character development

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T H E GAT H E R I N G

The school’s leadership was also determined to do more than simply go back to ‘before’, so alongside meditations a new concept was introduced – The Gathering, a coming-together of all students and staff to celebrate across art forms. It marks a desire to turn assemblies into celebrations. “We’ve always had assemblies, and while knowing what’s going on is crucial, they sometimes felt a little bulletin-heavy!” says Mr Duckling.

“Assemblies should offer a perfect way to come together and celebrate our key values, and who we are, so we wanted more.

And that’s how The Gathering came about.”

The Gathering now takes place every term. It is always themed around an Aiglon value, such as challenge, respect or diversity, and an alum is often invited to speak, reinforcing the link to the school’s heritage. Student performances showcase Aiglon’s creative and artistic side – “we want The Gathering to be entirely student-driven,” says Mr Duckling – delivered by the likes of Ava Goldberg.

Ava (Clairmont, Class of 2024) had never taken part in a drama performance before she came to Aiglon but now, having performed in The Gathering alongside her Drama IB, she’s a seasoned veteran. While she finds drama fulfilling personally, she’s also loving the joy of being part of something bigger.

“I’ve been in The Gathering three times, and each time it’s been great,” says Ava. “The audience fuels the performance.

I get a lot of energy from it. When I see people laugh, it makes me shine brighter on stage. At the end, everyone’s coming up to congratulate you, saying how much fun they had just watching it, and they feel like they were on stage with you just by being there. It feels more like a community, because it’s a super-fun thing to collaborate on and everyone talks about it.”

Photography by Rob Curran and Chuttersnap on Unsplash, Joe McGorty and iStock

E N J OY T H E F R E E D O M

Meanwhile, The Gathering has led, inexorably, to another event – The Scattering. At the first Gathering, poet and alumnus Karl Kirchwey (Delaware, 1973) talked about the definition of a gathering. In philosophy, he said, it is useful when defining something to think about its opposite.

And the opposite of a gathering is, of course, a scattering.

“The Scattering takes place a day before graduation,” says Mr Duckling. “It focuses on the group that is leaving, and is entirely planned by students.”

Music is key to both The Gathering and The Scattering.

Head of Music Mr Tom Dobney says he recognised the power of music to bring people together from an early age. “I was a chorister at St John’s College in Cambridge – I made some of the best music of my life from the age of seven to 13!” he says. “I knew the importance of singing from that point on, for sure. When big groups of humans gather the world over, for everything from a football match to a religious service, singing is an integral part of it. So we wanted to make singing together an integral part of The Gathering experience.”

Indeed, using these opportunities to sing together has countless benefits, says Mr Dobney: it’s now generally accepted that communal singing boosts mental wellbeing.

“In Gatherings and in the meditations, there’s often a lot of very serious themes and thinking about who you are and where you want to go. But you’re not thinking about any of that when you’re singing. You’re just in a moment with everyone around you making a beautiful sound and enjoying the togetherness and the freedom.”

A SENSE OF COMMUNITY

Of course, every musical Gathering experience is different – performances so far have ranged from a classical harpist to a rock band. But there are always two big communal songs that bring the whole school together in harmony. “When it comes to communal singing, we try to make it as tuneful as possible, of course. But really, we want it to be raucous, to be more about the togetherness,” says Mr Dobney. “My only objective at the start was just for it to be joyful. That was it. And for the pupils and the teachers to come together and just really enjoy singing in each other’s company, dispelling any sort of uncomfortableness at the start.”

The songs can be anything, too, from Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen to an Italian aria. “We sing popular and classical songs often with a message that resonates with students and the theme,” says Mr Dobney. “But some don’t have a message – we just sing them for the joy of it. And an unexpected consequence of singing has been dancing. It creates a great atmosphere to see teachers and students, arm in arm, bopping away and coming up with their own moves.”

So, what effects have The Gathering and The Scattering had on the student community? They are already creating new traditions, says Mr Duckling. At the last Scattering, he remembers, the departing Year 13 class decided that they wanted to sing Journey’s rock classic Don’t Stop Believin’ to the school. “They went in together, turned around and just sang it. There was barely a dry eye in the house. And right away, the Year 12s were already thinking about what they wanted to sing. When I’m old and retired, I’m pretty sure The Gathering and The Scattering will still be happening.”

And Ava agrees. “I think it’s important to take a break from real life for a second – to take a minute to laugh and not just focus on the important things. The Gathering gives us a sense of community and a chance for all of us to say what we’re feeling. We don’t often get the chance to gather as a school: this is our time to be together. I know that after I leave, I’ll always remember The Gatherings at Aiglon.”

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38 Class notes 45 Recreation

46 Personal best 48 Hometown

COMMUNITY

Class notes

Share your news via alumni@aiglon.ch and stay in touch with the Aiglon community at aiglonlife.ch Miami nice I have been living in Key Biscayne, Florida for the past 17 years, the proud mother of two daughters, Antonia, 15, and Bettina, 12, who both attended Aiglon Summer Camp this year. In October, I attended the Miami Reunion at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with fellow Aiglonians, to relive special memories and strengthen ties with the Aiglon community.

Gabriela Lopez de Haro Raskosky (Exeter, 1997)

My year group comes from all over the world, but for one reason or another, we all crossed paths at Aiglon. The reunion in June was another moment when our paths connected once again. I hadn’t seen some of my peers from the Class of 2018 for five years, so this reunion was a very nostalgic, heartwarming and, of course, hilarious few days. I was especially touched that so many flew in for this event.

See you all at the next one.

Johannes Vorfeld (Delaware, 2018)

Illustrations by James Olstein

Crossing paths

Matthew Child (Belvedere, 1969) We are saddened to hear of the passing of Matthew, who attended Aiglon from 1967-1969.

Following school, he entered the University of Utah where he was involved with acting and theatre production. He later joined the Great Salt Lake Mime Troupe, touring the world.

In 1983, Matt had a key role in Clint Eastwood’s film, Sudden Impact – fourth in the Dirty Harry series. Shortly thereafter, he was hired to teach theatre and dance in Bend, Oregon. Our sincere condolences to his brother Bill (Clairmont, 1968) and the rest of his family and friends.

Rosemary Hopkins (Alumni Staff, 1974-1981) During her time at Aiglon, Rosemary and her husband, Cyril, set up and ran the traditional craft department. Rosemary taught pottery, basket work and Scottish dance – she even taught the occasional Biology lesson (probably using her knowledge having trained as an occupational therapist). Well beyond her formal retirement, Rosemary remained a steady, smiling presence on campus, and maintained a close relationship with many of us here.

Rosemary was one of those unique members of our community whose love for the school and its people transcended multiple generations of staff and students. She regularly spent time with our own staff, local alumni and others in the area, and groups of students for numerous years would visit her home in Glutières to assist with gardening and other work as part of our service activities. She will be dearly missed.

Tribute by School Director Nicola Sparrow.

Jesus Garbayo Garcia (Delaware, 2002) We celebrate the life of Jesus Garbayo Garcia.

In the words of his sister Maria, he was “an exemplary brother, an exceptional friend, a caring son, kind, generous, compassionate – a beautiful soul, one that if you had the pleasure to meet you would never forget. Too good for this world and gone far too soon but forever in our hearts and memories. Jesus has transcended to become the angel we all know him to be.” Our heartfelt condolences go out to his sister and the rest of his family and friends.

Richard Bloor (Belvedere, 1964) Richard attended Aiglon from 1960 to 1964, and had so many happy memories of the mountain expeditions, the travel opportunities and, of course, the skiing.

From Aiglon, Richard went to Grenoble University to study French and then went on to join the family business, major leather suppliers to the British shoe trade. He married Diana Taylor in 1973 and had three children, Jonathan, Felicity and Philippa, who all inherited his passion for skiing. Felicity attended Aiglon for a term as part of a school exchange program – Richard was thrilled to be able to share his experiences.

Richard organised Aiglon reunions locally, and it would be no exaggeration to say that his time at Aiglon were some of the happiest in his life.

Tribute by Felicity Bloor.

Tributes

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Reunions: the Class of 2010...

It was great to welcome back the Class of 2010 for their delayed ten-year reunion! Thanks to all who came and Philippe Widmer for organising the event. See you next time!

... and the Class of 2013 We hosted the Class of 2013 for their ten-year reunion and it was impressive to see how many alumni joined for the celebration! Our special thanks to Nicole Widmer, Moira Dordea and Faye Alseif for stepping up to organise the weekend. We hope to see you all again soon!

London to Rome Our thanks to Nathalie Paterson for helping set up two fabulous reunions for the Class of 1993.

In London (left), a group of Aiglonians were very generously hosted by Ravi Sanginaria (Delaware, 1993) and his wife Priya at their home in London, with further events over the weekend. And while in Rome, we are indebted to Giada Albanese (Clairmont, 1992) for helping to organise an incredible weekend of events.

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Done roaming My career has kept me happily and busily engaged in the business of education and training in the world of IT and software. In April 2022, my wife and I decided to take a break, move out of our very urban lifestyle (downtown Seattle condo), and do some travelling. We visited Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, the Philippines and Australia, where I was again able to catch up with fellow Aiglonians Andrew Treharne, Adam Bonynge and Robin Mycock (above) in Sydney.

We now live 100 miles north of Seattle, just 15 minutes from the Canadian (British Columbia) border, and after an 18-month sabbatical I have just returned to work with yet another small software startup. We have comfortable guest accommodation if any old Aiglonians are ever in the Pacific Northwest region.

Mark Fei (Belvedere, 1977 – attended 1970-1974)

Forever thankful Having graduated from Aiglon in 2017, I completed a BSc in Management at the University of Bath but have recently relocated to London, via Dublin, for a commercial finance position at Microsoft UK. Alongside this I am CFO and Co-Founder of AIM Events, a luxury lifestyle and hospitality events company founded in 2018 with Andrey Makiyevskiy (Delaware, 2017).

I’ve also been involved with an Irish not-for-profit music company board enabling young musicians to showcase their talent, and will forever be thankful to Aiglon for helping me obtain my violin qualification alongside my IB studies at school.

Happy to connect if you’re in London!

Kate Maguire (Clairmont, 2017)

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N E X T G E N E R AT I O N

A new chapter begins Following my studies at Aiglon I decided to study at the prestigious École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) where I obtained a Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management, and graduated in 2012. After time in Shanghai and Thailand, my wife and I decided to move back to Switzerland to start our own entrepreneurial adventure, importing and specialising in jamón Ibérico. In Geneva in 2022 we opened our first gourmet shop, La Dula, specialising in a range of Iberian delicacies, with an integrated concept proposing lunch, platters, wine tasting and cold tapas. It is the beginning of a new chapter, so if you are ever in the area, come and say hi!

Thomas de Carvalho (Delaware, 2008)

Recently married

Remembering the Seventies On the occasion of the annual Aiglon reunion at Cecilia Peck’s house in Santa Monica, Bill Alkema took the initiative to rally most of the players in what was a core group of inseparable Aiglon pals from 1972 to 1974.

We started the day early at the famous Chez Jay and ended at a local Italian restaurant. Several of us had not seen each other since Aiglon, and the others only several times. It was an intensely memorable couple of days, and the stories flowed like the wine Jim Mitchell graciously brought from his ‘cave’. We left each other pledging to do it all over again as soon as possible! Pictured are Jeff Easum (Delaware, 1974), Jim Spirakis (Delaware, 1974), David Fudge (Alpina, 1974), John Pohl (Delaware, 1974), Jim Mitchell (Delaware, 1975) and Bill Alkema (Delaware, 1974).

Jeff Easum (Delaware, 1974)

After completing my bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, I joined The Kraft Heinz Company on an international management trainee programme, through which I met Miranda. Our shared interests and passion made everything easy.

Even through Covid and months of lockdown, we only grew closer.

We were recently married in Shanghai, China, where we also plan to live, at least for the next few years. Happy to share the news with the Aiglon family, and happy to connect in Shanghai.

Zhufeng Wang (Alpina, 2016)

Name: Daichi Miyamoto House: Belvedere Graduated: 2020 What’s on I’ve just graduated from Bays Business School in London and am working as a consultant to the Urayama Foundation. Its goal is to create an entrepreneurship course for a new university being built in Toyama, Japan. I’m also part of a group of professors, students and government workers looking to create innovation in the Japanese education sector.

What’s hot Right now, I’m working on trying to master golf and tennis. And I’ve created a baseball team with my childhood friends. I’ve always loved sports and was inspired to play basketball at Aiglon by Mr George.

I didn’t speak much English, so it was a great outlet for me.

What’s next I saw a news story which said that in ten years’ time, 60 per cent of jobs in Japan will be completely new: they don’t exist yet. So I’m just getting as many new experiences as I can, so I’ll be ready for the future when it happens.

What’s Aiglon Aiglon taught me how to accept and embrace our differences. It changed all my views, which I had automatically assumed were right. It taught me to not accept things at face value and to always question everything.

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PHILANTHROPY

The Moghadam Campus Hub Thanks to the generosity of Hamid and Tina Moghadam, the new Assembly and Dining building will establish an enduring legacy.

An enduring legacy

The Moghadam Campus Hub, named in honour of Hamid Moghadam (below) and his wife Tina, is the school’s largest ever project, due to open in August 2025.

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In March, Aiglon embarked on the most ambitious project in our school’s history, the Assembly and Dining building located on the Orchard Site in the centre of our alpine campus. We are honoured to announce that Hamid Moghadam (Alpina, 1973) and his wife Tina have generously donated a gift of $6m towards this project.

In acknowledgement of their generosity, Aiglon will name the building complex the Moghadam Campus Hub. Born in Tehran, Iran, Hamid attended Aiglon from 1970 until 1973 when he was admitted to MIT at the age of 16. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1977 and a Master’s degree in engineering in 1978 from MIT, before completing an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1980.

Hamid is the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Prologis, Inc., one of the world’s largest real estate companies. Under his leadership, Prologis has become the largest owner, operator and developer of logistics real estate in the world, with more than 4,000 customers in 19 countries.

The company’s portfolio includes more than 1.2bn sq ft of logistics real estate, serving a wide range of industries, from e-commerce and retail to manufacturing and transportation. Hamid has received numerous accolades for his business leadership, including being named one of the 100 most powerful people in global finance by Worth magazine and one of the top CEOs in the world by Harvard Business Review. Christina (Tina) Moghadam studied English and Communications at Stanford before receiving her Law degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984.

School Director Nicola Sparrow says: “This gift will leave a lasting impact on Aiglon’s campus and will serve as a constant reminder and inspiration to current and future Aiglonians. We are proud to have this centrepiece building bear the Moghadam name.”

At Aiglon, the importance of community cannot be overstated, and this new building will be a crucial component in bringing people together.

It will serve as the central gathering point for the entire campus, where students and staff can come together throughout the day. It will accommodate social events and gatherings, including meditation, assemblies, lectures, performances and communal dining, strengthening the community feel that lives at the heart of our educational approach. We look forward to celebrating the inauguration of the Moghadam Campus Hub in August 2025.

We are deeply grateful to Hamid and Tina for this extraordinary act of philanthropy, which reflects a shared belief in the importance of education as a catalyst for positive change.

To find out more about philanthropy at Aiglon and how you can support your school, contact k.sandri@aiglon.ch

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ALUMNI OFFICE

Alumni update Stay in touch and get involved – all the latest news from the Alumni Office for the whole Aiglon community.

Values in Action Nominations are now open for the Aiglon Values in Action Awards 2024.

The awards, now in their second year, honour alumni who are living the guiding principles in their everyday lives, as well as actively contributing to their communities and wider society. Nominations should be made via the website by 28 February. www.aiglon.ch/alumni

Global Chaptersre Don’t miss out on the chance to connect locally – sign up now.

You never stop being an Aiglonian: the experiences you have here and the friendships you make are lifelong.

And now there’s a new way to keep your connection strong: Global Chapters.

Designed to ensure every Aiglonian can access our unique global network – 5,753 alumni in 123 countries worldwide – this new programme will enable all members of our community to network and socialise, wherever they are in the world.

How does it work? Once you’ve registered on Aiglon Life you can access as many Global Chapters as you want – either locally or on your travels – and connect quickly, easily and securely with fellow alumni. We’ve identified 21 hubs that now host local chapters, from Tokyo to Turkey and the UAE to the USA. And it’s all available at the click of a mouse, from searching for old classmates to finding new friends (and colleagues)

in a new city. And making lasting connections and supporting the community is easier than ever: you’ll be able to see who’s looking for a role in your sector (and easily get in touch), you can organise events, or even start a chapter in your area.

“Signing up to Global Chapters is the perfect way to reinforce your old friendships and connections, but also to make new ones,” says Alexander Demishin (Alpina, 2016), Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement Officer. “It offers you the chance to get involved with your local chapter, and enjoy the benefits of the Aiglon global network, too. It’s incredible how Aiglon alumni help and support each other, and I can’t wait to see that enthusiasm in action on Global Chapters.”

SCAN

To sign up to Global Chapters, just visit aiglonlife.ch and look for your local chapter via the Group section of the platform. These chapters are also accessible directly from aiglon.ch (if you are already logged into Aiglon Life).

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THEN AND NOW

R E C R E AT I O N Where the current crop of Aiglonians demonstrate that while Aiglon may have changed, it hasn’t changed quite as much as you might think...

THEN

Photography Joe McGorty

A knight to remember

Extracurricular clubs have always been a feature of Aiglon life, from Paper Engineering and Ceramics to Fencing and Film Club. And the Chess Club organises its own regular competitions and tournaments. Here, Azlan AlSaid (Alpina, 2027) and Dylan Cukrowicz (Alpina, 2028) demonstrate the timeless joy of opening, queening and developing a fianchetto.

NOW

Do you have an image of your time at Aiglon you would like us to recreate?

Email your suggestions to communications@aiglon.ch

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PERSONAL BEST

R AC I N G TO T H E TO P Already a proficient skier, Jimena Cierco Martinez was drawn to ski racing by its adrenline rush.

Words Clare Thorp Photography Joe McGorty

urling yourself down a mountain slope at great speed while trying to navigate a series of narrow gates might sound like a stressful thing to do, but for Jimena Cierco Martinez (Exeter, 2026), it’s the perfect escape.

“I love it because my mind is only on the skiing, I’m not focused on anything else,” she explains.

“I push everything else out of my head and I’m just on the slopes trying to get through the gates,” she says. Then there’s the sheer excitement of it, too.

“The adrenaline you feel before you start the course, it’s insane. It changes my whole mood.”

She wasn’t always so enthusiastic about ski racing.

Hailing from Andorra, Jimena was already a proficient skier before arriving at Aiglon, but the idea of racing made her nervous. “My mum used to do it and that’s how she broke her knee,” she explains. “She was in a wheelchair for a month and on crutches for a long time.

So I didn’t really want to.”

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Top speed

Jimena Cierco Martinez is relatively new to the sport of ski racing, but has already had the taste of a podium finish and is looking forward to more success in competitions.

Then, in Year 8, a friend started ski racing and encouraged her to give it a try. Jimena, who also plays football, liked the sound of trying a sport that was less about teamwork and more about being in competition with yourself. “So I tried it – and liked it,” she says.

It still took time to build up courage, though. “I was very scared at first and had to push myself to take part.

I wouldn’t try new things and would keep away from the riskier slopes and gates. But I got more relaxed with time, and more confident,” she says. “You have to remember that you’re in control of the skis – the skis are not in control of you.”

Ski racing is as much a mental sport as a physical one, she says, and anticipation is a vital skill. “You never know exactly where the gates are, or the changes of the slope. You need to be paying attention to everything because something is always happening.”

Trusting your instincts is also key. “Obviously things can go wrong, and you can fall, but mostly if you trust yourself, it goes OK, from my experience. Luckily, I’ve never been in a bad fall.

“My mum tells me to be careful, but both my parents and my sister have supported me a lot.

My cousins have been in professional ski races around the world too, so whenever I’m home they help me with techniques.”

Last year, Jimena came third in a team race in Villars-sur-Ollon, making the podium for the first time.

“That was very nice, especially because I felt like my timing helped us to get there.” For now, she’s only competed in Switzerland, but hopes to be at a level to race in other countries very soon. “I’m a very competitive person and I like to win, so I’m going to try and get on the podium more, especially because I’m not afraid as much as I was before.”

Achieving individual goals can be just as satisfying.

“It’s about pushing your limits,” she says, admitting one personal highlight was when she finally mastered the technique for the slalom. “When I saw people hitting the poles one after the other, I thought that was so scary. But last year I was finally able to do it, and that felt like a great achievement.”

Conquering her fears has benefits away from the slopes, too. “It’s made me more confident in trying new things and not being scared. Maybe some things you like and some you don’t, but at least try things and don’t miss opportunities, because they can lead to great experiences.”

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HOMETOWN

SY D N E Y Getting the inside track on Australia’s most populous city from two Aiglonian Sydneysiders.

Words Megan Welford Illustration James Olstein

ike the sun? And the water? And an active lifestyle? Then where could be better than Australia’s largest city, Sydney? At least, according to locals Robin Mycock (Belvedere, 1969) and Zara Enhoven (Exeter, 2025). “It’s so lively, and everyone is so active and happy,” says Zara.

“And warm!” adds Robin. “My family moved here, and when I came to visit them from the Maine winter – which was frozen solid – Sydney was like paradise!

So I moved here too.”

At 80km long, the sprawling city is indented with waterways and host to 100 beaches, so you’re never far from a dip, even in the harbour itself. “The water never used to be so clean,” says Robin, “but now people swim races from the Opera House to the other side – watching out for the narkies [the sharks], of course.”

It’s obvious, he says, but the harbour really is the best place to visit.

“That’s why, for Aiglon’s 75th anniversary trip, we’re going to meet in the Opera House bar and see a performance, and the next day charter a yacht and tour the harbour. Around the harbour there’s a neighbourhood called The Rocks for history, two fantastic art galleries and the Botanical Gardens.”

Of course, every Sydneysider has their favourite secret place to swim. “I live close to Maroubra Beach, which is a beautiful, long beach with classic rolling surf,” says Robin. And Zara’s secret beach is by Nielsen

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A special place

Sydney locals Robin Mycock and Zara Endhoven love the cosmopolitan appeal of the city.

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Park in the Vaucluse district. “People bring a picnic or eat in the one café.

The beach is a small, calm cove with no waves and, if you walk along a bit to the left, there’s a jump rock where all the young people meet up.”

Not so secret but equally unmissable, she says, is Bondi Beach. “It’s a big, busy attraction because it’s beautiful. You can surf, swim, walk along the promenade and watch the sunset. You can also walk along the cliffs from Bondi to Bronte – a gorgeous, three-kilometre walk. With my friends we go to the Oakberry café for açai fruit ice cream.”

And because Sydney is so cosmopolitan, says Robin, when it comes to food you can get whatever your heart – and stomach – desires, by district: “Harris Park for Indian, Cabramatta for Vietnamese, Haberfield for Italian.” Or you can go to Double Bay and find it all, says Zara. For Sydney’s fresh fish and seafood, Robin recommends Pacific Square fish market in Maroubra.

For 35 years, every Friday night, Robin and his friends have been bringing seafood, steak and sausages to Centennial Park in Bondi Junction to cook on the communal electric barbecues there.

“We sit on the picnic tables under the fig trees, and at sunset hundreds of fruit bats come. There are parakeets and crested cockatoos. We used to bring the kids but, now they’ve grown up, it’s just us friends, and it’s great fun. The park is a special place.”

For more about the Global Expedition Series trip to Sydney in February 2024, part of the 75th anniversary celebrations, visit www.aiglon.ch/alumni/75th

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