The first group of Bay School students graduated in 1986. Since then, more than 600 accomplished individuals have walked across our stage. Our alumni are a multigenerational cohort who span the globe. They are doctors, lawyers, artists, farmers, entrepreneurs, CEOs, students, teachers, parents, business owners, standup comedians, and everything in between.
Moira O’Connor ‘21 is a junior at High Mowing School, a private preschool through grade 12 Waldorf school in Southern New Hampshire.
How does High Mowing School compare to The Bay School, in your experience? High Mowing is very different from The Bay School but there are definitely similarities. Every morning the whole school says morning verse and it is a verse that I used to say in Mr. Springer’s class. We celebrate Michaelmas and May Day. And the em-
phasis on creativity and freedom is the biggest similarity in my mind. High Mowing has their students create their own yearbook, design
and plan prom, and execute festivals and performances.
Do you have a favorite class or teacher? Recently I finished a block on Sustainability and Environmental Philosophy. We explored the impacts humans have on the natural world and different philosophies scientists have about climate change. This block was wonderful. It was filled with discussions about the connections within the natural world and how we fit into it. We had guest speakers introduce topics such as life cycle assessment and we had the opportunity to visit a stream and study the habitat of brook trout as we learned about indicator species.
Do you feel like The Bay School prepared you well for a Waldorf high school? Absolutely! High Mowing feels like a continuation of an academic community that I deeply love and feel grateful to be a part of. Thank you Bay School!
July 1st | 5:30pm
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Moira O’Connor ‘21 (second from left) Morris dancing at High Mowing School’s May Day celebration
Morgan Lavoie ‘09 is the co-founder, COO, and Editor-in-Chief of Money News Network, a podcast-driven financial news and information destination that delivers financial news without the jargon. Prior to founding MNN, Morgan worked at iHeart Radio on some of that network’s most popular shows. She is a Webby honoree and in 2023 was named to Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Media list. We reached out to Morgan last month to hear more about her path from Bay School student to media mogul.
Do you think that your Bay School education set you up for success in high school and beyond? Yeah, I attribute all of my success to the Bay School, truly. I think that the most important thing for me growing up was to learn how to love learning for the sake of learning. In college, I studied neuroscience, which was a hard area of focus. But I loved it because the Bay School teaches you how to take a topic that might be complicated and get really excited about cracking it. That mindset is why I’ve been able to have success in my career, and that completely came from my education at The Bay School.
How did you go from studying neuroscience to working in media production and podcasting? That seems like an interesting path. I focused on neuroscience because I was curious about how the brain worked. Curiosity is a big thing that was fostered in me at The Bay School, figuring things out through observation and asking good questions. That’s what drew me to neuroscience. And then at Skidmore College, I was a tutor and I loved it! I worked with students who were taking science classes to satisfy a graduation requirement. They were just in class because they had to be and they weren’t really excited about it. So I learned how to tell good stories about the topics in a way that would engage the people that didn’t really want to be there. When I graduated, I realized that what I liked most about my work was the storytelling aspect, trying to figure out an interesting way to explain a concept that’s kind of sterile. I had always loved science podcasts, so I got an assistant job at iHeartRadio and worked my way onto the podcast team. From there, my interests broadened from just science to all different types of concepts that are typically difficult to explain. Eventually, I got more interested in the business and finance podcasts and that led to starting Money News Network with somebody that I met at iHeart.
That’s amazing! And you recently were named to Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Media - congratulations on that. What has that meant to you? Thank you! One of my best friends called me when I found out that I got on the list and she said, “I’m not proud of you for making the list. I’m proud of everything that you did to get on the list.” I think that’s really kind of what it’s meant to me. Like, the recognition is awesome and definitely feels good. But what feels just as good as going through the comment section of the podcast that I work on and seeing people say nice things about the show. That’s really who I do it for, the people that listen to the show. It’s been a scary time, economically, for the last couple of years. And we get comments on our podcasts like, “growing up I watched my parents’ house get foreclosed on and knowing that I don’t have to repeat the same patterns has made me feel really empowered.” The best award, truly, is to hear stories like that from people that listen.
Were there any particular Bay School teachers that have had a lasting impact on you in life or career, or both? Mr. Springer. A million percent. He was my teacher second through eighth grade, so the big lessons that I learned from the Bay School, like loving to learn for the sake of it and how to tell a good story, I learned from him. And also he can predict the future because he’s a magic human. When I was in school, I changed my mind about what I wanted to be when I grew up all the time. But I had a long stint of thinking that I wanted to be an actor. And he was like, you’re going work in radio. At the time, I thought there was no way. It wasn’t until I was in podcasting for a couple of years that I was like, how did he know?! Wow, that’s wild. He nailed it for you! Apart from Mr Springer’s career predictions, what other fond memories do you have of your time at The Bay School? I often think about hiking Katahdin in eighth grade. There was a student in our class who had asthma and was apprehensive about the hike. Of all the students in our class, it was going to be the hardest for him. And he was aware of that and we were all sort of aware of that. Throughout the hike, he was always sort of trailing behind, the last in our group. But when we got to the top, we all waited so that he could be the first person to summit. In the
moment, it just felt like, of course. But when I think back on that, it’s pretty incredible to have been taught in school (especially in eighth grade, when emotional maturity isn’t necessarily a guarantee) to be compassionate and to get excited about creating a special moment for one of your friends.
Amazing. Ok - one last question: which Bay School festival or tradition was your absolute favorite as a student? Such a good question because there are so many that are special. I think that the first day of school - the opening circle and giving the nature offering, it was such a good way to start setting intentions for what you want from the year and to take a moment to be introspective and thoughtful. And I still go apple picking every year!
Thank you so much Morgan!
(Answers have been edited for length and clarity)
Second/Third Grade, Great Joy The Ox
Left, top to bottom: First Grade, The Seven Ravens Fourth/Fifth Grade, Perseus the Virtuous Sixth/Seventh Grade, The Elephant’s Child
Eighth Grade, Dogg’s Hamlet
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“We are so pleased to have a scholarship in her name at The Bay School. This is something we know she would have wanted and we are grateful that it will offer financial assistance to students now and in the future.
Margot entered The Bay School in 1992 in first grade and graduated in 2000. She took to it from the start, as evidenced by the fact that she lived 45 miles away in Prospect Harbor and had to endure two hour round trip drives five days a week. She did this (mostly)
without complaint for eight years; having Elise Whalen ‘98 and Chek Wingo ‘99 as traveling companions helped immensely.
Everything about the school agreed with her. She made fast friends, loved her teachers, and immersed herself in Main Lessons. The Bay School may not have turned her into a lifelong knitter but it instilled a curiosity about the world at large that she carried wherever she went afterwards. And, thanks to Catherine Razi, she continued throwing a football with her father long after she graduated. Two places in particular took hold in her imagination from Main Lessons - Greece and Egypt - and she never stopped wanting to see them. Fortunately, she was able to travel to Greece when she was 23, and had she lived longer, we have no doubt that she eventually would have made it to the Pyramids and the Nile.
The Bay School plants seeds in young people and nurtures them in ways that are too rare in today’s world. Margot would be so happy to know that she will continue to be part of a place that did that for her and will continue to do so for others going forward.”
- the family of Margot Willis Crary ‘00
Margot Willis Crary ‘00 died of breast cancer in 2016. In 2023, thanks to generous donations from people whe knew and loved her, The Bay School established a memorial scholarship fund in her name. The first awards from that fund will be made in the 2024-25 school year, as part of our financial aid package.
To make a donation in Margot’s honor, please contact Marcia Diamond at advancement@bayschool.org or 207-374-2187.
Lydia Bryant The Process of Learning Digital Art Tools
Billy Ciciotte The Art of Musical Theater
Joey Ciciotte Cake Decorating
Hazel Kimball The Art of Stained Glass Making
Linus Murphy The Art and History of Stone Carving
Kemper Odeen How to Be a Chef
Ossian Prime-Spivak Needlework
Alex Reynolds Ski Maintenance
Shuggy Reynolds The Incredibly Excruciating Process of My Humble Writings That Are on Par with the Greatest Ever
Adams Stratton The Art of Touring with a Bike
Charlie Sullivan Sports Photography
Ewan Tunney The Art of Rock Climbing
Aria Wehrwein Learning How to Create Music Electronically
“First and foremost, with her husband Loriman, Lisa was the parent of three Bay School alumni: Loriman ‘10, Garrison ‘13, and Caroline, ‘15” said Kathryn Dillon of her friend. “Lisa’s Bay School tenure overlapped a period of tremendous growth, much like the School is experiencing now. New were Emlen Hall, the forge, the math building, the now-gone yurt, the greenhouse, the kindergarten playground, the vegetable gardens, and North Cottage. Lisa played a role in all of it.” And now, Lisa’s friends and family would like to honor her memory by naming the new classroom village deck “The LookeOut”.
This naming opportunity is part of a multi-phase campus expansion plan. In Phase 1, two new classroom buildings were erected on the site of the former yurt. Between the two buildings is a large deck which serves as an outside instructional, performance, and study area. To secure this naming opportunity, we need to raise $100,000 and we have received a generous challenge grant of $25,000 to get us started from former Head of School Mary Whiting, a colleague and friend of Lisa’s.
We can accept online gifts, checks, pledges (including multi-year pledges), gifts of appreciated stock, and donations from other giving vehicles.
For more information, please contact Lynn Boulger at advancement@bayschool.org or 207-669-2566.
Lisa, left, with dear friend Joanne Steenberg
