!
CAMPUS IMPROVEMENTS Avon Old Farms places a priority on maintaining the campus and improving the student and faculty experience. Each improvement, even on a small scale, makes a difference in preserving the legacy of our founder, Theodate Pope Riddle. The following list details some of the renovations and improvements made this year, which were possible because of your support. Locker rooms for Avon players and visiting teams will be renovated.
member, donated the money to build an indoor hockey rink. The new rink, aptly named after Jennings, launched Avon’s superiority throughout the league. By 1972, the rink was completed. Three years later, Headmaster Trautman recruited John Gardner to teach and coach at Avon Old Farms. Coach Gardner understood the independent school world, and his résumé included significant hockey achievements. Between Jennings Fairchild Rink and Coach Gardner, along with the fortitude of those who had come before, the hockey program began to thrive. In 1989, Richard Gordon P’90, who served on the Board of Directors and owned the Hartford Whalers, renovated the Avon Old Farms hockey rink. He religiously brought the Whalers to Avon Old Farms to practice. Furthermore, NHL players, including legend Wayne Gretzky, visited Avon Old Farms to practice on the ice. The rest is history. Avon Old Farms emerged as the best secondary school hockey program in New England and arguably in the United States. Today, it has more Founders League titles than and twice as many New England Championships as any other independent school in New England, and Avon is home to many of the world’s finest players. Alumni Brian Leech ’86 and Jonathan Quick ’05 are two of the four Americans in the history of the National
Hockey League to have won the Conn Smyth Trophy, which is awarded to the Most Valuable Player in the Stanley Cup Finals. Three Avonians have raised the Stanley Cup in victory: Leech (New York Rangers), Quick (Los Angeles Kings), and this past June, Nick Bonino ’07 (Pittsburgh Penguins). Undoubtedly, the accolades will continue for years to come. The Avon Old Farms hockey program not only produces winning teams and professional players but also graduates young men who excel as student-athletes at the collegiate level. The success of the hockey team embodies Avon’s school spirit, as we remember the team’s modest beginnings. The hockey program’s achievements are truly remarkable. Unquestionably, visionary coaching, talented players, enthusiastic fans, community outreach, and key donor funding helped the hockey program reach its impressive levels; this magic elixir will spur on the Winged Beavers and help the program continue to flourish. In the near future, Avon Old Farms will invest in the hockey program by modernizing the facility. Enhancements aim to mirror the caliber of the facility with the caliber and success of the program. Under the leadership of the current headmaster, Kenneth LaRocque, the Board of Directors, and committed donors, the future of hockey looks brighter and brighter.
•
Installed new projectors in the dorm classrooms of Elephant and Adams
•
Renovated the Forge into a technology lab classroom
•
Installed new whiteboards, shelving, cables, electric wiring, and lighting
•
Added such safety features as fire and security alarms
•
Purchased rolling tables, storage units, and a TV monitor
•
Updated the digital arts classroom in the Estabrook Fine Arts Center with new printers, workstations, cameras, software, and cables
•
Built a new stairway system on the hillside leading down to the athletic fields
•
Continued an ongoing project for masonry repairs in the quad
•
Replaced the original clay sewer system with durable plastic piping, including new manhole covers
•
Updated five faculty housing units—exterior roof, window, and siding work
•
Expanded and renovated the student fitness center, including removing a wall to enlarge the room for more equipment, new rubber flooring, and new weight training equipment
2015–2016 Report of Annual Giving
23