1764
THE MAGAZINE OF
COLUMBIA GRAMMAR & PREPARATORY SCHOOL
Innovation Station The Middle School’s state-of-the-art Innovation Lab engages students with one-of-a-kind interactive robotics programming in a bright, modular space
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1764, THE MAGAZINE OF COLUMBIA GRAMMAR & PREPARATORY SCHO OL WINTER 2020 COLUMBIA GRAMMAR & PREPARATORY SCHO OL HEAD OF SCHO OL Dr. William M. Donohue DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Jennifer Rhodes EDITOR Jessie Saunders CONTRIBUTORS Marquis Austin Elizabeth Bacon Andrew Marcelle Jessie Saunders ART DIRECTION Kristen Winstead, Sund Studio PHOTO GRAPHY Marquis Austin Marjorie Becker Flynn Larsen Al Pereira Olivia Salzano ’04 Filip Wolak PRINTING Lane Press DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EVENTS Anna Fisher ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Evgeniya Kirpicheva COMMUNICATIONS CO ORDINATOR Marquis Austin ADVANCEMENT ASSO CIATE Bennett Kushnick
BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2019–2020 HEAD OF SCHO OL Dr. William M. Donohue OFFICERS Andrew Zaro, President Meredith Verona, Senior Vice President Becky Banyasz, Vice President Dana Landis Birnbaum ’97, Vice President Leslee Cowen, Vice President Amy France, Vice President Paul Levy, Vice President Benjamin Pass, Vice President Astrid SabellaRosa, Vice President Marielle Safra, Vice President Joseph Tahl, Vice President Kapil Mathur, Treasurer Amy Rose, Secretary BOARD CO-CHAIRS John Bader Edward Stern ’83 TRUSTEES Bradley Amoils José Baselga Julie Bernstein Susie Davis Donny Deutsch Marjorie Harris Sanford Heller Tracy Maitland John McAuley Nir Meir Ira Schwartz Daniel Sundheim Tom Tao Caryn Zucker HONORARY TRUSTEES Hirschel Abelson Sandra Eggers Mary Kalikow Fredric Mack PAST PRESIDENTS, TRUSTEES EMERITI Dr. Arturo Constantiner Neil Crespi Jerry Heymann Dr. Lawrence Howard Kirk Radke David P. Steinmann HEADMASTER EMERITUS Dr. Richard J. Soghoian
#CGPSnyc #OneSchool
TRUSTEE EX OFFICIO (2019–2020) Meredith Sotoloff
MISSION STATEMENT CGPS nurtures each student’s unique passions and talents inside and outside the classroom, unifying and inspiring members of its community in a rigorous but relaxed learning environment, preparing them for the finest colleges and instilling in them the confidence, ethical values and sense of purpose to embrace challenges, to achieve their dreams and to improve the world.
Contents 2
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38
Letter from the Head of School
A Science Garden Grows
Field of Dreams
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CGPS NEWS
&
12 Community 15 Culture 18 Sports 20 Innovation
By giving students a touchstone in the natural world, the Grammar School garden opens avenues of observation in science, social studies and beyond
David Stearns ’03, the youngest current General Manager in baseball, talks with 1764 about the importance of coding and reaching for your dream career
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Innovation Station
Graduation 2019
One-of-a-kind interactive robotics programming and a bright, modular space that encourages collaboration using cutting-edge laser cutters and 3D printers are hallmarks of the Middle School’s Innovation Lab— and work done there prepares students for robotics and computer science in the Prep School
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Up to Their Own Devising
The Prep School’s theater department looks beyond the script and invites students to create collaborative theater experiences
44 Alumni Reunion
46 Alumni Notes
56 1764 Looks Back
Letter
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Dear CGPS Family, Late last April, the Girls Varsity Softball and the Boys Varsity Baseball teams attended a Brewers vs. Mets game at Citi Field. Before the game, our students had the opportunity to meet with Brewers General Manager David Stearns ’03 (pictured with me, at left), a CGPS lifer, a graduate of Harvard and the youngest GM in baseball. He spoke about his career and gave advice about what it takes to succeed today. I was lucky enough to tag along! In this issue, David speaks to 1764 about this meeting, the lasting impact of his time at CGPS and more on page 38. It’s just one of the tremendously exciting things happening every day in the CGPS community. In this issue, you can also read about the incredible work our talented faculty and staff are doing on all the floors in every building of our School. Grammar School students are directly connecting their work in our robust science curriculum to handson experiences in the Science Lab
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Garden. Students learn how to cultivate plants and vegetables as well as observe insects in their natural environments. Grammar School students can also take advantage of our new After 3 Social Club, where children play and interact, build community and learn about conflict resolution with guidance from early childhood education experts. In our Middle School, the Arts Integration program allows for cross-disciplinary learning, reinforcing math and science concepts through studio art. The new Middle School Innovation Lab is a wonderful example of the School’s investment in STEAM programming and robotics, including our bespoke robotics programs that are designed for, and unique to, CGPS. Our Prep School students have an enormous array of arts programming to choose from, including metalworking, which is rarely offered outside of specialized arts high schools, and the theater department’s Production Workshop class which supports a new kind of theater production called devising, where everything from the script to the design and direction are the result of an
inspiring collaborative process. The Prep School Career Internship Program sources top-of-the-line internship opportunities from CGPS parents and alumni across all three divisions and alumni working in fields such as medicine, finance, advertising, criminal justice, entertainment, real estate and government. 1764 also speaks to Prep School Director Joanie Dean who gives a “state of the Prep School” in a Q & A that covers curricular enhancements, student unity and her vision of a balanced high school experience. I’ve highlighted just a few of the amazing and textured experiences our students have every day that are featured in this issue. As I outlined in my CGPS Today presentation last fall, we look forward to expanding these opportunities as we continue to work together to make CGPS the best possible experience for all our students and families. Sincerely, Dr. William M. Donohue
You can read about the incredible work our talented faculty and staff are doing on all the floors in every building of our School.
CGPS News FIF TH GRADE
Wax Museum A capstone project for fifth graders, the Wax Museum encourages students to literally embody a figure from American history, researching that person’s life before donning a costume and performing as a “wax” statue of that historical figure during an all-grade assembly. Parents tour the “exhibit” and activate the figures by pushing a button, prompting the students to come to life and recite a minute-long speech they have memorized. Fifth grade CORE teacher Stefanie Trepper says, “We practice the speeches—that public speaking element is wonderful for them. I have watched the shyest of kids overcome their nervousness because they want to be part of this, and they are proud to show what they’ve learned about this historical figure. They embody that person—after a while they eat, sleep, think and breathe this person. They’re really excited for the performance element.” In past years, the historical figures have been chosen mainly from early American history through to the beginning of westward expansion. This year, the figures will include individuals from the length of American history who have facilitated change.
Amelia Earhart tells her own story during the fifth grade Wax Museum project.
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The Power of Pi Do you need an excuse to eat pie for a full week? Do you want a shot at academic and philanthropic glory? If so, here is your chance. During the week of March 14, Prep School students and the rest of the international mathematics community will celebrate International Pi Day. It’s a tribute to the Greek symbol pi (π)—the constant used to represent the circumference of a circle to its diameter—which starts with 3.14159, continues into infinity and has been calculated to 31.4 million digits. Various ancient civilizations calculated approximations of pi, including the Egyptians
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and Babylonians, but the first calculation of pi as 3.14 is attributed to Greek mathematician Archimedes. The annual event, hosted by the math department, gives Prep School students a chance to compete to raise money for the charity of their choice. All week long, during math channel, students in mixed-grade teams compete in a rigorous tournament that will challenge all kinds of learners in a variety of problem-solving formats. Each team name represents a different flavor of pie, and students are given the chance to learn in a social setting before they depart for spring vacation.
Faculty Focus Prep School: Susan Fei “When I first taught at CGPS 12 years ago, there were only three Chinese classes—now, there are 12, including AP classes,” says Susan Fei. Ms. Fei, who emigrated to the United States 16 years ago, has been impressed by the exploding interest in Chinese at CGPS. “We now have over 100 Chinese language students,” she says. Chinese is offered as part of the comprehensive world languages program at
School, which includes French, Latin, Japanese and Spanish as well as Chinese. Children are introduced to Chinese as part of the Middle School language rotation, where they spend six weeks getting a taste of all the languages offered at CGPS. As Prep Schoolers, students will often “do a summer homestay program,” Ms. Fei says. “You can see the passion for learning the language.” Middle School: Kevin Rall For Kevin Rall, who joined Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School as a fifth and sixth grade math teacher in 2016, nothing beats witnessing the excitement of his students when everything clicks. “It’s great to see them suddenly get something. That moment is just something you can’t capture,” he says. What most excites Mr. Rall about Middle School math in particular is how applicable it is to real-world situations: “What you learn in Middle School math you are going to use throughout the rest of your life.” In the past, you could catch Mr. Rall on the soccer or baseball field after school. However, this year his extracurricular focus has shifted to Student Government as he sets out to bring about unity and positivity in the Middle School. As faculty advisor, Mr. Rall works with a group of ambitious sixth and seventh graders inspiring spirit and pride in their community. Some of the group’s efforts this year include organizing a door-decorating contest that added vibrancy to the School’s hallways and a hit Halloween costume competition
that led to more students dressing up than usual. “We’re bringing a terrific energy into the building,” notes Mr. Rall. Grammar School: Ingrid Abrams & Joanna Sondheim “This is not a shushing library,” Grammar School co-librarian Ingrid Abrams says, by way of introduction. “It’s not developmentally appropriate for the children we work with.” Instead, the Grammar School Library serves as a classroom and community hub, where teachers and students alike search out Ms. Abrams and her co-librarian, Joanna Sondheim, for book suggestions. They both teach classes and support emerging readers as they discover a love for books. For classwork, they collaborate on lesson plans and often alternate teaching, but not always: “We’re working with fourth graders right now,” Ms. Abrams says. “They’re learning about bias, so we split them off into two separate groups, away from each other, to do a separate lesson and then bring them back together. That’s a perfect co-teaching moment.” The library also plays a role to support the language arts curriculum. Ms. Sondheim says, “We encourage children to move toward independence in their reading choices. The language arts work that they’re doing in the classrooms is more guided, whereas here we try and give the students more freedom as to what they can read for pleasure. It gives them a sense of power and responsibility.”
CGPS News Meet the New Faculty This year, 13 new teachers and administrators joined the over 300 faculty and staff at School, and 1764 asked them what makes their areas of expertise so compelling Brian Schott, Prep School computer science teacher: “I love computer science because I get to show students how the technologies they use every day actually work. Technology education develops critical-thinking skills and empowers students to create things that can better their lives and the lives of others.”
Rebecca Smallberg ’10, kindergarten classroom teacher: “I remember watching a video depicting the synapses in the infant brain in my high school biology class and beginning to understand the relationship between the early childhood years of life and the undeniable blueprint that it lays for the formation of the individual. It is an incredibly exciting time in their lives, and I feel grateful to be around the students every day!”
Claudia Constantiner, Grammar School Reading Specialist: “I help children develop their confidence and love of reading through early intervention and teaching reading skills and strategies. I hope to instill that love in each child who passes through my door.”
Coleen Powell Quintyne, PreK classroom teacher: “It is wonderful to be a part of my students’ learning journey as challenges transform into triumphs and the mundane becomes meaningful.”
Deon Edmond, kindergarten classroom teacher: “I find joy knowing that each day I help create experiences that provide the building blocks for each one of our children to be a more kind, empathetic, resilient and empowered student in our classroom community.”
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Kate Smallberg ’04, Grammar School Math Coordinator: “I love watching how cooperative and friendly all of the Grammar School students are. All of that kindness and cooperation make for really fun learning environments and I cannot wait to get to know these students even more.”
Noah Kelly, kindergarten classroom teacher: “Kindergartners are laying their foundations to become 21st-century learners. Their ideas are fresh, innovative and always inspirational!”
Marina Seitz, Prep School counselor: “I love the relationships I am able to form with my students. In learning more about my individual students, I learn more about being a counselor.”
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Victoria Phillips, second grade classroom teacher: “I love guiding young children to try new things, seeing them persevere when challenged and then inspiring their classmates and teachers.”
Caitlin Storcks, fifth grade CORE teacher: “My favorite part of teaching is when a student recognizes where they started and how much they’ve learned—their faces light up!”
Andrew Emeritz, Prep School math teacher: “What I really love about math is that it affords innumerable opportunities to reach that ‘aha!’ moment—when the impossible unfurls before your eyes and you discover that it was actually possible all along.”
Donna Russo, Prep School history teacher: “I am most motivated by the storytelling of the past. Even after ten years of teaching, I always find new and interesting sources and perspectives to incorporate into my lessons.”
Sally Hong, Prep School math teacher: “Math is so fascinating in the uniqueness of how there is not always only one way to determine the solution. I love that students see a problem differently than I do and how we can make adjustments to our own work and learn from each other.”
Taryn Berman, kindergarten classroom teacher: “I enjoy helping my students cultivate a community where we can all take risks and learn from our mistakes. Watching them embrace challenges and overcome obstacles is incredibly rewarding.”
Melissa Barissi, kindergarten classroom teacher: “If in kindergarten we can instill a love for learning, create an environment where children feel safe taking academic risks and model the importance of social and emotional growth, then we are creating lifelong learners.”
Stephanie Rodriguez, Prep School science teacher: “Earth science is compelling because it gets society to examine our world in a bigger scope and encourages them to question and investigate the systems which make our small planet a place we call home.”
Xiaofan Chen, Middle and Prep School Chinese teacher: “I love to see students interact with each other using Chinese and it makes me happy to feel their passion for learning Chinese culture as well.”
CGPS News
Columbia Cares On Sunday, November 10, the School was bustling with families decorating 680 chocolate-covered pretzels for the Goddard Riverside Community Center’s annual Thanksgiving dinner, preparing 528 sandwiches for the Coalition for the Homeless, assembling 445 toiletry kits for the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, writing 190 uplifting cards for homebound seniors—and much more. Each year, members of the CGPS community come together for a schoolwide service event known as Columbia Cares Day. “It is a day for everyone to do some good and make a difference,” explains parent May Wong, co-chair of the Columbia Cares Day Committee alongside Beatrice Jonah and Stacey Lowenberg. “It teaches students from PreK through high school the importance of community service.” As a part of the sixth annual Columbia Cares Day, the School continued one of its most cherished service traditions—selling turkey feathers to purchase turkeys to donate to the West Side Campaign Against Hunger’s Thousand Turkey Challenge. As a result of CGPS’s efforts, 215 families in need had turkeys for Thanksgiving in November. “We are a community that can make a difference in the lives of so many people when we come together,” Ms. Lowenberg says.
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An American Tune “We are all immigrants, it’s just a matter of time. Pick any century or last ice age will do fine. We’re moving, we’re grooving all around the world. Diversity is a strength, you see, and liberty, we are free-ee-ee-ee.” So goes the chorus of the song “We Are All Immigrants,” written by Grammar School music teacher Tobias Gebb for the second grade’s International Festival. It tells the story of all the people who have arrived in North America from elsewhere—starting with the land
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bridge across the Bering Strait. “We Are All Immigrants” is one of several songs that Mr. Gebb, a professional musician and producer as well as teacher, has written to enhance the curriculum. He’s written these “unit songs” for science about simple machines and geology, and songs in Spanish about the Three Little Pigs. There’s even a rap song about the 12 times table. “We Are All Immigrants” remains a second grade favorite. Mr. Gebb shares how the song got its title: “I started working with the second graders on this song for the International Festival, and we discussed the idea that humans have always moved around, from the start of human history. In one of the classes, during discussion, one student said, ‘So you mean we’re all immigrants?’ I immediately said, ‘That’s what we should name the song. Thank you for the title!’”
MIDDLE SCHO OL
CORE
Fifth grade is a time of transition at CGPS. These new Middle Schoolers are slowly introduced to a new way to be in school, one where they move from class to class, and have increased independence and responsibility. The fifth grade CORE program helps ease that transition. CORE serves as a hub for fifth graders, who have a home room and three to four classes a day with their CORE teacher. They can ease into the idea of becoming fully interdisciplinary and independent like older Middle Schoolers—and so can their parents. Stefanie Trepper, the Middle School CORE coordinator, explains: “I think it’s a really important element of the fifth grade transition because it’s a stepping stone for
the families as a whole.” Just as students can have the security of a CORE classroom to call home, so can new Middle School parents, who know whom to call if they have questions or concerns. CORE supports the new Middle Schoolers’ social-emotional health as well. “Those issues are very specific to Middle School,” says Ms. Trepper.
Opposite page: Grammar School students volunteer to prepare food for those in need during Columbia Cares Day. Top: Second graders sing “We Are All Immigrants” at December’s International Festival. Bottom: CORE classrooms provide fifth graders with a sense of security and help with the transition to Middle School.
CGPS News
MIDDLE SCHO OL
Lion Link As members of Lion Link—the Middle School’s new student advisory program—fifth, sixth and seventh graders new to Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School enter the community with a network of supportive peers and faculty mentors at their side. “Every student
is given a teacher advisor and Lion Link buddy to help them transition successfully,” explains Middle School Assistant Director Abigail Rojas. Each week, faculty advisors touch base with their new student advisees to ensure they are academically and socially acclimating to their new environment and kept aware of the School’s exciting traditions, such as Columbia on Ice and Columbia Cares Day. “We check in with them, and we help them feel comfortable,” elaborates Ms. Rojas. The new Middle Schoolers’ Lion Link buddies help them navigate their classroom schedules, point them in the right direction whenever they find themselves lost on the way to class, introduce them to their friends and make their transition into the community as seamless as possible. As Lion Link buddies, returning Middle School students not only learn the importance of inclusion but also put it into practice. “I was in the lunchroom one day, and three new students were sitting together at one table. I saw a group of girls at another table get up, take their trays and ask if they
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could join the new students,” Ms. Rojas remembers. For anyone interested in seeing the welcoming and kindhearted nature of the Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School community in action, the Middle School’s Lion Link program is the perfect place to start.
PREP SCHO OL
Advanced Science Research In two years, Fabiha R. ’21 will be the only person in the world with a particular set of knowledge concerning Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an often fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Alongside seven other young scientists, Fabiha is embarking on a thrilling journey of scientific discovery in the Prep School’s inaugural Advanced Science Research program. “They will be developing their own knowledge,” explains Ilya Yashin, Prep School physics teacher and faculty advisor
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to the program. Students begin the program by selecting a topic of scientific intrigue and subsequently move on to finding a graduate student or professor well-versed in the selected area to serve as their mentor while they conduct original research. Toward the end of the program, the future scientific pioneers will write an original research paper and present their never-before-seen findings to their peers and professional scientists at national competitions. In addition, students must submit their work to the Regeneron Science Talent Search, as it is a course requirement. “You’re taking the initiative to find something you’re passionate about and pursue it to the highest level,” comments Alexander S. ’21, who is researching urban sprawl and its effect on climate change. Students are also investigating using artificial intelligence to analyze MRI scans, neural organoids and their use in modeling neurological disorders, automated glycan synthesis and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Akshay S. ’22 is excited to formulate bold new ideas on glioblastoma multiforme and appreciates the Advanced Science Research Program for giving him the means to do so: “Advanced Science Research gives you the opportunity to explore science that is modern, new and still being researched because there are many unknowns.”
Opposite top: Middle Schoolers listen intently during a Lion Link gathering at the beginning of the school year. Opposite bottom: The Advanced Science Research participants, here with their mentor, physics teacher Ilya Yashin, make a two-year commitment to a research topic.
THE MIDDLE SCHO OL WELCOMES
Paul Baly
You can say that education is in Paul Baly’s blood. “I come from a long line of educators. My dad was a superintendent of schools, my grandfather founded a college, my mom was a teacher. Even my aunts and uncles are all teachers.” He himself wasn’t so sure that he was going into the family business. Out of college, he chose corporate America, but quickly had a change of heart. “I ended up— literally in the middle of the night— being asked to be an English teacher at a school in Columbia, South Carolina. I took a leap of faith.” That move led to two master’s degrees and a burgeoning interest in school administration. “I realized that while I loved teaching, I also really liked creating vision for schools on a bigger scale.” He had a particular affinity for independent schools: “I love the fact that independent schools allow educators to understand their community and their students. I saw that independent schools could really serve individuals.” Before coming to CGPS this fall, Mr. Baly served as the Head of the Middle School at the Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ. There, he says, he developed his “love and appreciation” for the arts.
“The head of the music program, Amelia Gold—a CGPS alumna— helped me understand how the arts is an integral part of education, particularly for Middle School education, where kids are in the process of envisioning themselves as larger than their family,” he says. CGPS’s ethos of academic excellence without a pressure-cooker environment spoke to Mr. Baly as he learned about the School, and it has been reinforced this fall. “As an educator, I want to set high expectations, but it’s really about how you feed students’ souls through education, not the way in which you put them through the ringer. That’s what I see here. It’s an amazing community where kids are genuinely curious about ideas, and teachers value their relationships with students and with each other.”
“It’s an amazing community where kids are genuinely curious about ideas, and teachers value their relationships with students and with each other.”
& Community Renaissance Man An upcoming biography shares the fascinating story of Harry Guggenheim, Class of 1907 By Marquis Austin With triumphs in aviation, rocketry, horse racing, newspaper publishing and the arts, it is safe to call Harry Guggenheim, Class of 1907, a 20th-century renaissance man. “I’m not sure I’ve ever come across anyone in history who had the same variety of interests and managed to
succeed in five different sectors,” says Dirk Smillie, author of the upcoming biography of Mr. Guggenheim, The Business of Tomorrow. “He had the ability to move ventures forward in a way much faster than his peers did.” Mr. Smillie explored CGPS’s archives last summer to further his research on the venerable businessman. After his father, mining baron Daniel Guggenheim, died in 1930, Mr. Guggenheim assumed the role of the family patriarch and became preoccupied with extending the Guggenheim brand into new industries. It was a time when mining businesses were experiencing economic turmoil, and, as Mr. Smillie explains,
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“to have the family name fade away was his worst nightmare.” Some of Mr. Guggenheim’s notable accomplishments include the founding of Newsday with his wife Alicia Patterson, the creation of the country’s highest-earning thoroughbred horse racing stable in the 1950s and the establishment of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. While the idea for the museum originated with his uncle Solomon Guggenheim, Mr. Guggenheim took over the project after his uncle died ten years before the museum’s opening and set up many of its early art collections. Much of the late entrepreneur’s lifelong curiosity and ambition derived from his time at CGPS. At the School, Mr. Guggenheim “identified many interests and traits which were of profound importance later on in his life,” comments Mr. Smillie. His archival research here at the School revealed Mr. Guggenheim was the head of the Literary and Debating Society at only 14, which, Mr. Smillie notes, gave the young scholar “a lot of self-confidence in his abilities.” Mr. Guggenheim was also a high-ranking member of the hockey and football teams and participant in the Automobile Club alongside his cousin Edmond. “He really found that he could achieve a lot,” remarks Mr. Smillie of Mr. Guggenheim’s time at CGPS. Pegasus Books will release Dirk Smillie’s biography of Harry Guggenheim, The Business of Tomorrow, this summer.
Top: A young Harry Guggenheim at his parents’ summer home in Elberon, New Jersey. (Image courtesy of Ingrid Butler) Bottom, left to right: U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Harry Guggenheim and journalist Bill Moyers in 1967. (Image courtesy of the Library of Congress)
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Social Skills The Grammar School’s After 3 Social Club serves as a space to build community and social-emotional competency By Jessie Saunders “A lot happens here at three o’clock,” says Doretha Levine, the Grammar School Student Affairs Coordinator and force behind the after school programming at CGPS. Students who stay past the end of the school day can take advantage of an array of after school options, from traditional after school classes to the extensive POWER hour academic support and enrichment opportunities, to study hall in the Grammar School Library. The glue that connects them all is the After 3 Social Club, which provides unstructured free time, supervised by child development experts, that supports community-building and the development of social skills. “The After 3 Social Club is a time to socialize in a less-structured environment under the watchful eye of experts,” says Grammar School Director Sarah McLean. “Developing social-emotional skills like cooperation, responsibility, empathy and self-control are essential for longterm success. The Social Club was purposefully designed to help our children achieve those skills.” One goal of the entire after school program at CGPS is flexibility, which means that parents can register their children for the Social Club anytime, including the day of. The woman in charge is Ms. Levine, who keeps track of every student’s comings and goings while simultaneously enriching their social-emotional development. Ms. Levine has a master’s degree in social
work from Hunter College and has served as a field advisor for Columbia University, and she has an unquenchable curiosity for how children interact with each other. Her post-master’s and professional development work has centered around group dynamics and early childhood non-verbal communication, including self-regulation. “When a child is upset, it can be hard for them to calm down,” Ms. Levine says. “Sometimes their first reaction is physical. It’s my role to ask the child, ‘What are your actions saying to the other person? What are they saying to me?’ and by talking through the moment, it encourages the children to express their frustrations verbally.” The School invites social work graduate students to observe and also facilitate play at Social Club to support Ms. Levine’s work. One of the wonderful outcomes of After 3 Social Club is the community spirit it helps foster among students. “We build bridges between grades at Social Club,” Ms. Levine says. “A preschooler can walk down the hallway and a third grader will give that child a high five. Their teacher might ask, ‘Well,
how do you know that student?’ That’s a friendship that started in the Social Club.”
Top: Doretha Levine’s deep experience with early childhood development makes the After 3 Social Club more than just a place to play. Bottom: A happy Social Club participant.
& Community An Enduring Alliance The Queer Straight Alliance provides Prep School students a forum for discussion and celebration By Marquis Austin In 2003, CGPS alumna Olivia Salzano ’04 founded the School’s Queer Straight Alliance (QSA), a club that provides a safe space for LGBTQ students and allies to open up about personal matters and mobilize schoolwide initiatives in support of inclusivity. “When the club started, it was big, but we didn’t know what to talk about. When I graduated, I thought, ‘Wow, let’s see what happens,’” remembers Ms. Salzano. Flash-forward sixteen years, and Ms. Salzano, who is now a theater
teacher in the Prep School, mentors the next generation of LGBTQ students and allies as the group’s co-faculty advisor alongside music teacher John Fischer. “This close-knit group has my back when I’m dealing with issues in and out of school and vice versa. It’s incredible to have a group that listens to you and shares words of wisdom,” remarks QSA co-president EstherGrace D. ’20. The QSA, as Mr. Fischer states, is “interested in creating a world that is comfortable with its diversity.” One of the most exciting ways in which the QSA goes about accomplishing this is seen each spring in the Prep School Theater. Dubbed the group’s Oscars, the QSA Alliance Awards presents members of the community with awards such as Teacher Ally of the Year and Student Ally of the Year. “It’s a celebration of bringing everybody together to recognize people who don’t come to the club but still support it. Filling the theater is a physical representation of the support that does exist,” explains Ms. Salzano. Mr. Fischer feels the same, commenting, “It’s a
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“I am proud to be supporting a space that welcomes students of the LGBTQ community. It is an amazing initiative to see here at CGPS.” NINA J. ’20 QSA SECRETARY
powerful message to send, not to just students, but also faculty and staff that this is the kind of school where being who you are is encouraged.” During the holiday season, its members put up a Christmas tree christened the “Equalitree.” Prep School students, faculty and staff write down positive messages and hang them up on the tree as ornaments. A QSA bulletin board highlighting LGBTQ topics, such as queer historical figures, just outside the Prep School cafeteria, and several poster campaigns throughout the hallways, raise awareness of the group and its enlightened mantra: “Love conquers all.” Through efforts such as these, the QSA makes queerness within the community visible, fosters diversity and helps create a community where students feel safe enough to embrace their differences. “I am proud to spread awareness and knowledge of what we are capable of changing as a community,” says EstherGrace.
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Ahoy There, Grammar! The fourth grade’s rollicking production of Pirates from Grammar Island makes syntax scintillating By Marquis Austin “The heroes of our story have good grammar as their quest!” belted choruses of fourth grade students in early December from the stage of the Underground Theatre, a tropical backdrop shining brightly behind them. Dressed in full pirate regalia, including sashes, sabres and tricorne hats, or with their shirts emblazoned with different grammatical structures, these performers dazzled parents and faculty during three show-stopping productions of Pirates from Grammar Island. Staged
& Culture
each year, Pirates from Grammar Island chronicles the adventures of a group of pirates searching for the most valuable treasure known to the Seven Seas—not gold doubloons, but grammar. The pirates at the center of this tale are on the lookout for precious jewels such as complete sentences, correct punctuation, capitalization and subject-verb agreement. The Grammar School’s annual staging of Pirates from Grammar Island facilitates each fourth grader’s understanding of various grammatical concepts. “They can say these songs and remember declaratives make a statement, exclamations shout at you and interrogatives are questions,” explains fourth grade teacher and Pirates from Grammar Island director Jessica Correri. “It helps them remember these terms in a more fun and musical way.” During the first few weeks of school, the students familiarize themselves with and practice the ten songs
featured in the musical. The pieces “are often paired with grammar lessons as well,” says Ms. Correri. In early November, following a brief audition process, she distributes parts such as Captain Schmitty, Captain Downing, the Adverb and Adjective Librarians and the Queens of Pronouns to the students. She then commences the rehearsal process with choreography and staging assistance from GS dance teacher Patricia Arenson. Following a dress rehearsal in front of the third grade, each of the fourth grade classes is ready for their performance for their families and teachers in the Underground Theatre. “What excites me the most is getting to know the kids in the entire grade and seeing how proud they are of themselves,” says Ms. Correri.
Above: Perhaps the youngest, most musical and most grammatically correct pirates in the world.
& Culture Creative Classroom A signature program in the Middle School, the Arts Integration curriculum inspires students to create interdisciplinary works of art By Jessie Saunders The painting of Frank Stella. The production of Moroccan pottery. The art installations of Yayoi Kusama. These are advanced topics in art not usually tackled in Middle School, but through CGPS’s rich and comprehensive Arts Integration curriculum, students explore these and other arts topics through the lens of other academic subjects like math, science and history. Arts Integration “is one rib of the arts umbrella that we offer in the Middle School,” says Arts Integration Coordinator Veronika Bromberg. Ms. Bromberg’s background includes a certificate in Arts Integration from the
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Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which pioneered this curricular approach. They define Arts Integration as “an approach to learning in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form.” When she arrived at CGPS three years ago, Ms. Bromberg already had the experience to run a rich curriculum, but it was a professional development program funded by the School that served as the genesis of the program here. Ms. Bromberg took a trip to Morocco to learn more about tile-making, and while there realized the subject’s potential as an Arts Integration unit involving fifth grade mathematics. The collegial spirit at CGPS facilitated the adoption of Arts Integration. Ms. Bromberg says, “We’re such a tight knit group of colleagues who bring together our areas of expertise in all different subject content areas. This is a great opportunity to work together, to collaborate and to do something that would allow students to create a visual component to learning academic subject areas.” The fifth grade’s Moroccan Tile project includes discussion of the process of making the clay tiles and a visit to the Islamic Arts wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then, the students design the traditional geometric patterns using lessons they are learning in their math classes. This connection between art and math continues with the sixth grade’s Frank Stella project, where, Ms. Bromberg says, “The math department visits to talk about mathematical concepts, geometric shape and form in the work of Frank Stella.” The Frank Stella project is not limited to interdisciplinary mathematics. “We talk about how music also inspired his work,” she said, “and we discuss and look at his 3D relief sculptural pieces to create our own.” The sixth graders also participated in a project based on the life and work of Yayoi Kusama, and were able to visit her infinity mirrors at the David Zwirner Gallery. As Arts Integration expands to the seventh grade, Ms. Bromberg wants to collaborate with the STEAM curriculum using the glass art of Dale Chihuly. Ms. Bromberg thinks that Arts Integration speaks specifically to this age group: “It’s so important. I see it in their eyes when students see the connection between art and something else. They’re at a point in their educational development where it really matters to make those connections and it provides them with an ability to learn in different ways.”
Teacher Veronika Bromberg brings her extensive training in Arts Integration to the Middle School curriculum.
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Forging Ahead Exploring the Prep School’s metalworking curriculum The studio arts program at CGPS provides students with in-depth access to art forms not normally found in high school, including an extensive metalworking curriculum. After an introduction to metalsmithing through the arts rotation in ninth grade, students interested in learning more can develop their skills in a series of metalworking classes, leading to the Advanced Projects in Metals class. Students work at metal design, soldering and making jewelry with stone-setting. Studio arts faculty member Sara Glaberson runs the program. She says, “I want students to see what’s possible. For instance, I lead Metals 1 in a classic introductory project, asking them to think about two objects that are related but not the same—like the rainbow and cloud (above right). I want them to think about how things go together.” As they advance, students experiment with wax work, where they sculpt wax objects that are then turned into molds for molten metal to create figures. By advanced levels, students are working on projects that might take them a whole semester (photos to the right and below). These projects can take them into the realms of jewelry-making or sculpture, and involve incredibly intricate work. “Metalworking involves precision and patience,” Ms. Glaberson says.
Above right: Weather magnets by Justin R. ’23. Right: Tree sculpture by Stefan K. ’21. Bottom right and left: Bug sculpture and snake ring by Erin Henry ’19.
& Sports
Softball Sensations The Girls Varsity Softball team clinches their third consecutive NYCAL regular season and postseason championship titles By Marquis Austin “Player, player, you’re the one, so hit that ball, then run, run, run! ’Round the bases you shall go! First, second, third, then home!” This catchy chant is just one of the many emanating from the CGPS Girls Varsity Softball team’s dugout when one of their own steps up to the plate during a game. “Cheering brings the team together,” explains last season’s co-captain and second baseman, Amanda Palamar
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’19, who was known for showing up to games with print-outs of similarly rousing cheers to share with her teammates. “When everyone is up on their feet, shouting encouragement for the others, it not only shows off our pride and spirit to the other team but also motivates each player and reminds them of their power.” This motivation led to a whole season of rounding bases, as the girls ended their season with a stellar record of 10-3 and clinched their third consecutive NYCAL regular season and postseason championship titles. For the team’s veteran players, the journey to three-peating as regular season and postseason champions has been a long and arduous one. Initially, “We were not good. We did not win games,” says Tessa W. ’20, co-captain, pitcher and team staple since her days as a seventh grader.
“We weren’t a cohesive group of softball players.” According to Head Coach Renee Rivera, cohesiveness was the key ingredient the team needed to succeed: “You can have the greatest players in the world, but if they’re not meshing and gelling, then it’s not going to be the finished product that everyone wants.” It was not until last season’s senior players—Amanda, shortstop Madeleine Hettler and catcher Grace Weinstein—joined the team as freshfaced Prep School students that Tessa noticed the tide shifting. “We became more of a tight-knit group. We hung out a lot more outside of school. The bus rides were more fun and animated,” laughs Tessa. Today, game trips with the CGPS Girls Varsity Softball team consist of lively renditions of “pump-up” songs such as Miley Cyrus’s seminal pop
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anthem, “Party in the USA,” and the Backstreet Boys’s indisputable classic, “I Want It That Way.” “The truth is, it is all about attitude. We keep the energy up throughout the entire game,” remarks Amanda. When running drills during practice, Coach Rivera used to have to remind her players to switch partners periodically. With Amanda, Madeleine, Grace and Tessa leading by example, she no longer did: “They would automatically go and grab a
new freshman or someone who hasn’t been speaking very much and say, ‘Hey, come on, I’ll throw with you.’” Fostering this atmosphere of inclusivity, as Madeline points out, is the reason for the team’s recent success. “By cultivating strong bonds of friendship over the seasons, come game time, the girls would happily play their hearts out for each other.” While winning is exhilarating, what Amanda, Madeline and Grace are going to miss most about being on
the CGPS Girls Varsity Softball team is spending time with their teammates. “There was not one girl who we didn’t love and hang out with,” says Madeleine. “We have created a team where all different types of girls can come together and become a family, and I will be forever grateful for the friendships I was able to make.”
Left: Tessa W. ’20 steps up to the plate during a spring 2019 Girls Varsity Softball game.
THREE-SEASON ATHLETE
Joshua Y. ’20
“I never ran in Middle School,” notes star studentathlete Joshua Y. ’20. As a ninth grade student new to Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School a little over three years ago, the then-JV soccer player had more experience taking corner kicks than deftly passing a baton to a fired-up sprinter during a downto-the-wire 4x100-meter relay. Despite this, Joshua still decided to try his hand at indoor track during the winter of his ninth grade year. Today, Joshua is not only a member of the varsity indoor track team but also the varsity cross country and outdoor track teams during the fall and spring seasons. A highspeed jack-of-all-trades, Joshua is an exceptional sprinter, long-distance runner and long jumper, having broken numerous School records during his time at CGPS. In fact, Joshua individually qualified for the New York State Federation Track and Field Championships—an event consisting of the best public and independent school athletes New York has to offer—as a freshman utterly new to the sport. As Joshua nears the end of his time as a student at CGPS, he looks forward to passing the baton to the School’s younger runners. For those looking to follow in his footsteps, Joshua extends the following piece of advice: “Stay motivated. You have it in you. If you put the work in, you can reach your goals.”
& Innovation A Chat With Joanie Dean 1764 sat down with the Director of the Prep School to learn about her efforts to foster unity in grades 8-12 and new curricular innovations she’s introducing in the sciences and humanities 1764: You’ve been here nearly two decades as a teacher and administrator. How do you think the Prep School has changed in that time, and how are you facilitating that change? JOANIE DEAN: One thing that I’m passionate about—and I believe that
we’ve made strides in since I became Director last year—is thinking about the Prep School as an entire community. We have grown so much over the time I’ve been here, and we sometimes still think of ourselves as a smaller school. That can be a good thing, but we didn’t have any mechanisms in place to have whole school meetings or assemblies, or to create a culture or identity around who we are now. One initiative that we’ve started this year is to celebrate our community through whole school assemblies. Our first was our community service assembly, which I thought was a nice way to invoke our mission and the School’s core values, specifically the core value of curiosity, through the topic of service. The
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assembly focused on ethical values and ways to improve the world as a whole school community. We’ve also tweaked the structure of our faculty and department meetings. For instance, MECA (the MultiEthnic Cultural Awareness group) came to our faculty meeting to present about social justice, equity and inclusion within the life of the School. Another meeting is going to feature a report from every department after faculty members shadow students for a day to better understand the student experience. I think that as a bigger school—we have 587 students and 120 faculty in the Prep School this year—more input and discussion will simultaneously spark creativity and increase school spirit.
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1764: How many full division assemblies do you plan on having this year? JOANIE DEAN: Including our Halloween Assembly and Pep Rally, we will have one a month. Our November assembly focused on school spirit. 1764: It must be great to see the whole Prep School together. JOANIE DEAN: At the beginning of our recent service assembly, there was a great feeling in the gym. We were all together, there were conversations going on and the music was playing. It was wonderful to gather as a community and see everybody there. Events like these are community building, recognizing who we are and who we want to be as a group. They are aspirational as well as inspirational. 1764: The School has officially introduced core values this year. JOANIE DEAN: They’re very helpful. As a school, we’ve always been excellent at helping kids individually
figure out who they are and what their passions may be. The core values are a way to talk about who we are on a bigger scale. They make us a better community because we have an accountability to each other through them. 1764: Can you talk about some of the new curricular initiatives, Advanced Science Research and Independent Readers Select? JOANIE DEAN: The Advanced Science Research class is a great example of collaborative learning. Independent Reader Select is a oneon-one course, where it is up to students and their passions as to what they’re going to study. There was a need and a desire for Advanced Science Research. With the right guidance, students can do work at a very high level when it’s a topic of their own choosing. The program was developed with the help of consultant David Keith, who has had 100 Regeneron Semifinalists emerge from his Advanced Science Research programs. He is a true educator and researcher, and he knows how to work with kids. I paired David with science
teacher Ilya Yashin, who is running the program here. He’s able to talk to David and David can guide him. Right now we only have two grades involved, but eventually we will have three. To get accepted into the program, the students write essays and need to demonstrate interest and independence. We also look at grades and teacher recommendations. Next year, we’re going to ask students to do a presentation as well. 1764: What about Independent Readers Select? JOANIE DEAN: This is an independent study program created by the English department. This program allows individual students to select reading—fiction or nonfiction—of their own choosing, and then be guided in additional resources and study by a teacher from any department. Recently, we’ve been focusing on the sciences and technology, but it’s important to remember that Columbia Prep is very well known for its rigorous humanities and exceptional arts programs. Independent Readers Select is a great example of just that.
“Events like these are community building, recognizing who we are and who we want to be as a group. They are aspirational as well as inspirational.” JOANIE DEAN DIRECTOR OF THE PREP SCHO OL
& Innovation Career Services Through the Career Internship Program, Prep School students are introduced to a wide range of future careers By Marquis Austin While senior Imani C. may not have her Doctor of Medicine degree just yet, the aspiring physician is well on her way. Last summer, she received an in-depth look into the medical field as a summer intern at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center (MSK). A typical day for Imani consisted of shadowing oncologists and learning firsthand how doctors treat and interact with patients. “It gave me insight into what it is like to be in the medical field,” says Imani, who “loved” her experience at MSK. Imani’s road to what proved to be an informative and rewarding summer internship began last year with the Prep School Career Internship Program. Coordinated by Prep School teachers Bess Seewald and Kerri Gove, the Career Internship Program sources top-of-the-line internships from CGPS parents across all three divisions, alumni and friends. The industries represented include medicine, finance, advertising, criminal justice, entertainment, real estate, government and more. “We try to feature a diverse range of careers,” notes Ms. Seewald. Wendy Cohn and Sarah Jaffe, two current parents who serve as co-chairs of the Parents Association’s Career Internship Committee, encourage members of the community to offer internships to and mentor CGPS students. “The receptivity and support have been fantastic. We place about 60 students every summer in opportunities ranging from brief shadowing experiences to six-week paid internships and everything in between,” says Ms. Jaffe. During an assembly in December, Ms. Seewald and Ms. Gove introduce the program to tenth and eleventh grade students interested in spending two or more weeks during their summer break gaining real-world experience in a field of interest. They also use the assembly as an opportunity to familiarize students with a skillset crucial for those entering the workforce—how to write a résumé. “I
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Interested in Interns? Please contact us at internships@cgps.org to find out how you can support the Career Internship Program.
hand out a sample of what a typical high school résumé might look like, and they use that as a template,” explains Ms. Seewald. She and Ms. Gove then meet with students oneon-one to polish their résumés and learn what career areas pique their interest in order to match them with the internship best suited for them. “I am typically able to place them where they most want to be,” states Ms. Seewald. For David P. ’21, who expressed an interest in creative writing, Ms. Seewald did just that. Matched with script analyst and current CGPS parent Heidi Brod, David spent his internship reading Hollywood screenplays and writing coverage— detailed reports analyzing a script’s characterization, plot, dialogue and structure. “I read about five or six different scripts ranging from romcoms to dramas. I told Heidi I was into superhero movies, so she showed me multiple superhero scripts for movies that have come out or are in development,” describes David. “It was a really fun time, and I learned a lot.”
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Taking Issue In the Middle School, two classes encourage students to ask questions and research the answers, preparing them for the rigors of the Prep School By Jessie Saunders The sixth grade’s Current Issues Research Seminar (CIRS) and the seventh grade’s Current International Issues (CII) class are departures from a traditional curriculum, but they prepare Middle School students for a challenging academic environment in the Prep School by helping them find their own voices in the classroom and on paper. Sixth graders are introduced to CIRS with a month-long project on the environment, an exercise guided by CIRS teacher Audrey Shalom, who helps them tease out bias in reporting and teaches them the proper way to structure research. “This class is fundamentally a class about writing,” she says. “It helps them develop fluency in writing and researching.” The main focus of CIRS is a substantial research paper on a current domestic topic of their own choosing; topics have included bullying, depression, sports injuries, fast food, allergies, autism and ADHD. This paper includes building and executing a survey and interviewing an expert in the field. At the end of the year the sixth grade hosts a CIRS fair, where students set up booths and educate visitors—class parents— about their research topics. They augment their papers with displays that may include demonstrations.
Middle School teacher Audrey Shalom works with her sixth graders to prepare them for the capstone presentation of their research at the CIRS fair in April.
“One student cleverly illustrated gender inequality in the workplace using blue and pink ping-pong balls placed in a fish tank,” says Ms. Shalom. “Parents chose a ball at random and were assigned a salary based not on their skill set, but their gender.” In the seventh grade, the view turns global with CII, which is designed to introduce students to international issues while at the same time making them understand the expectations of a Prep School classroom. Middle and Prep School teacher Bill Buckley leads the class and says, “We spend a lot of time with the vocabulary that they will be using when they enter the Prep School.” The curriculum is dictated by the front page of the newspaper. This year, they began with the protests in Hong Kong and went on to discuss Brexit and international relief organizations. Other issues covered in the past have included the North Korean nuclear crisis, climate
change, the global refugee crisis, global poverty, the reemerging rivalry between the United States and Russia, Venezuela’s challenges, the conflict between the United States and Iran, Pakistan and India’s conflicts, and challenges facing the African continent. The students keep a current issues journal and engage in structured debates on topics they’ve explored. Mr. Buckley is particularly passionate about the role of maps in CII. “Students have to make inferences from maps. It’s not just about where China is, but why is Hong Kong important to China? What about the geography informs their policy? Geography tells a big story.” He adds, “When we’ve finished with a topic, the students are familiar with the geography of an area, the history of that geography, and the international issue at hand.”
A Science Garden Grows
By giving students a touchstone in the natural world, the Grammar School garden opens avenues of observation in science, social studies and beyond BY MARQUIS AUSTIN
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Science teacher Peggy Albright shows a second grade class how to plant seeds in a raised bed, one of several that make up the Grammar School’s roof garden.
The long-awaited arrival of spring means the return of sun-kissed days, the gentle chirping of birds in the morning, fresh peanuts at Yankee Stadium and, for the Grammar School’s PreK and kindergarten students, tasty homegrown lettuce. Beginning in March, “We plant seeds under grow lights and grow lettuce as a part of a program called Lettuce for Lunch,” says Grammar School science teacher and gardener extraordinaire Peggy Albright. “We grow them into lettuce seedlings and then plant them in planters in front of their rooms on the balcony.” Once their lettuce has grown, the students move on to harvesting, washing and, last but certainly not least, spinning it to remove excess water. “Everybody wants to spin the lettuce!” exclaims Ms. Albright. In May, Ms. Albright stuffs the salad bowls, readies the tongs and drops in on the PreK and kindergarten classes at lunchtime—it is time to chow down!
Fresh off of growing lettuce as PreK and kindergartners, first graders this past fall directed their attention to another leafy green and its herbivorous companions: kale and caterpillars, respectively. While inspecting their growing kale, the students found caterpillars of the white cabbage butterfly feeding on the vegetable and placed them in a tank inside. Touching upon their butterfly metamorphosis studies from kindergarten, they then observed the larvae pupate into chrysalises and ultimately morph into the iridescent insect. “Observation is the key component of all science,” says science teacher Claire Rose. In addition to the caterpillar-to-butterfly project, the GS science curriculum conveys the importance of scientific observation through other garden activities. “We give the kids different adjectives, and they have to find plants that match those adjectives and sketch them,” explains Ms. Rose. Students also place their hands into
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“mystery boxes,” containers carrying plants from the garden and then describe what they feel. A scientist, as Ms. Rose points out, “has to be a good observer. They have to be able to observe what’s happening and use all of their senses. It’s not just about what they see. It’s also about what they can hear, smell and feel.” Gardening connects to material children learn in other subject areas as well. At the end of second grade, students plant corn, beans and squash—a trio the Native Americans referred to as the Three Sisters—so that the crops are ready in time for the third grade unit on the indigenous people the following school year. “These were three life-sustaining foods for the Native Americans of the Northeast Woodlands,” say Grade 3 Coordinators Smita Sehgal and Alexandra Trundle. “Once the third grade has harvested the Three Sisters, we bring them back into the classroom and show the children the crops. In addition, they use corn husks to create Native American-style dolls that taught children how to take care of babies and younger siblings.” “The garden is a point of reference for the natural world. If we’re trying to make a point about the changing of the seasons, we can look outside and see it happening. If we’re looking for a point of reference for how to make great observations, there’s something we can go outside and observe,” says STEAM Coordinator Christopher McLaughlin. Science teacher Stephanie Avena corroborated this, noting how she uses the garden to illustrate urban farming to her fourth grade students. Ms. Albright, who tends a large vegetable garden and fifteen acres of blueberries in Maine, is extremely grateful for the Grammar School’s science lab and balcony gardens. “They give kids the opportunity to experience the natural world in the city,” she says. “What’s important to me is that the natural world is accessible to them.”
From top to bottom: Whether it is spring, summer or fall, the Grammar School garden encourages scientific observation and discussion.
Caption
Innovation Station One-of-a-kind interactive robotics programming and a bright, modular space that encourages collaboration using cutting-edge laser cutters and 3D printers are hallmarks of the Middle School’s Innovation Lab. The work students do there prepares them for robotics and computer science in the Prep School. Over the past two summers, technology department faculty and staff visited schools outside of the city to get a big-picture view of how state-of-the-art educational technologies were being integrated into curricula around the country. The Middle School had a standard computer room, complete with desktop computers in a circle around the perimeter of the room. The students looked at their computers, but not each other. It was time for a change. The new Innovation
Lab design, which establishes a collaborative forum to develop a host of new skills with new software and hardware, gives students an outlet to engage in a style of learning that is at the cutting edge of STEAM education. Static tables, chairs, and desktops have been replaced with flexible, modular furniture. The technological upgrades—including a laser cutter and a robotics interactive ceiling projector—make the Innovation Lab an incubator for collaborative learning.
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The Design The Innovation Lab’s brightlycolored modular furniture allows teachers to structure the layout of the room to fit any project and brings the work away from static work stations into the center of the room. Instead of large desktop computers, laptops and touch screen Chromebooks foster work in groups. Added storage space gives students room for their projects; whether they are cardboard creations, robots or their own inventions, there is space in the lab for every student to safely store their work. Sleek wood worktops are complemented by adjustable, orange Turnstone Buoy active seating, injecting vibrancy into the classroom setting. Each piece of technology within the Innovation Lab is used in multiple projects across multiple grade levels. All hardware was researched, tested and selected by the faculty in service to the curriculum as well as the needs of the students.
Enhancing the Curriculum 3D printers and laser cutters allow students to create physical manifestations of designs they make using 3D modeling software. Having these technologies in the classroom allows students to gain fluency with hardware and software that are part of modern life. Middle School STEAM coordinator Jon Olivera says, “On top of the important experiences of learning how to use these programs and the associated hardware, students are meeting Next Generation Science Standards and Career and Technical Education Standards in meaningful ways that are keeping pace with our ever-changing world.”
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Technology & Tradition Project-based learning enhances traditional student learning in many ways, including retention of knowledge, gaining important skills and fostering intrinsic motivation. Mr. Olivera says, “Our technology curriculum gives us the opportunity to create interdisciplinary projects showing students that the skills and knowledge they are gaining translates to the real world and are not just confined to the classroom. For example, our fifth graders recently created nameplates for Middle School faculty members. This project was a collaboration between science, mathematics, technology and art. Students learned how to: use scientific tools for measurement; create a to-scale blueprint using these tools and skills in math; translate that blueprint to a digital design; create a vector file in technology; and create a color wash to finish the nameplates in art. This also gave students the opportunity to engage in design thinking as they created a product for a client. Implementing projects such as this one are creating more meaningful learning experiences for our students.”
“On top of the important experiences of learning how to use these programs and the associated hardware, students are meeting Next Generation Science Standards and Career and Technical Education Standards in meaningful ways.” JON OLIVERA MS STEAM CO ORDINATOR
The Beauty of Robotics Robotics is the physical manifestation of coding: students see the tangible results of creating programs and learning to code. In other words, robotics is fun. Students in Middle School learn how to create and execute a program using block coding with the goal of introducing them to basic line coding, in the form of Python and Javascript, by seventh grade. Using VEX EDR robots in the Prep School allows students the opportunity to develop an even more complex and deeper understanding of coding, a skill that grows more important as technology becomes ingrained into the fabric of everyday life.
Opposite, above and below: Students work with robots destined for the one-of-a-kind projector robotics course. This page: 3D printers, circuits and a laser printer allow designs done on screen to come to life.
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MS INNOVATION LAB
The Technology CHROMEBOOKS Using Chromebooks, fifth graders are able to physically manipulate code blocks in Scratch and other programs. Sixth graders use Tinkercad to create bioengineered products to be displayed in augmented reality. In seventh grade, students can interact with virtual reality environments they create and code in CoSpaces. GLOWFORGE LASER CUT TER In fifth grade, students create laser-cut nameplates for teachers as they engage in an interdisciplinary project about measurement. In seventh grade, students design and laser cut model houses from wood that they then wire and link to solar panels to engineer green energy homes. ROBOTICS An interactive ceiling projector runs robotics software specifically designed for use in our School. This oneof-a-kind software sets CGPS’s robotics program apart from any other in the country. The projector creates courses that the students program robots to follow. In fifth grade, students use VEX IQ robots to create and execute basic robotics programs and introduce the projector’s capabilities. In sixth grade, students learn about evolution through the use of robots. This teambased STEAM project, incorporated into the science, technology and mathematics curriculums, utilizes the interactive projector to create courses that increase in difficulty as teams advance through the project. The robots programmed by the teams learn to adapt to the changing landscape.
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Us, Robots A new computer science requirement in the ninth grade has students exploring the world of AI
Opposite top and bottom: Students put their VEX EDR robots through an obstacle course after building them from kits. This page, top: Tinkering with the robot’s circuitry. Bottom: Brian Schott, left, and Nick Verga teach Robotics and Programming, a new required course at CGPS.
If you find yourself roaming the fourth-floor halls of the Prep School’s north building and catch sight of a robot creeping around the corner, do not be alarmed—Skynet is not out to get you. The floor is home to the Prep School’s robotics room, where ninth grade students convene twice a cycle for one semester for the School’s new, required Programming and Robotics course. “We introduce them to programming and building a robot,” states Nicholas Verga, who teaches the course alongside Brian Schott. Both teachers will be receiving specialized professional development in this area at Wellesley College as well as Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Academy, the premier professional development program. Hanging on the wall of the workshop-style space is a poster of NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover, which acts as a reminder to students of what technology is capable of and the inspiration for the class’ main project. “This course imagines that they are NASA scientists working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and that they are building their own rover,” says Mr. Schott. In pairs, ninth graders manually build and program a VEX EDR robot—the more advanced version of the VEX IQ robot STEAM students engineer in the Middle School—to navigate a series of increasingly challenging obstacle courses. “We project the Martian surface on the floor, and they program the robot to move around to different sites without falling in craters,” continues Mr. Schott. As the course progresses, students take their robots to the next level with the implementation of sensors. This section of the curriculum particularly inspires Mr. Schott: “The robot will be able to respond to things on its own instead of just performing pre-programmed instruction. When that happens students realize, ‘Oh, now I can really open up what I can do.’” The dovetailing of programming and robotics positions Mr. Schott and Mr. Verga’s class as an effective means of sparking ninth grade interest in computer science. Mr. Schott explains the course succeeds because “it gives students something they can touch and feel.” A quick visit to the robotics room corroborates this, as there you will find curiously tinkering ninth grade engineers in the midst of exploration and discovery. “It has been really exciting and magical,” says Mr. Schott.
Up to Their Own Devising In the Prep School theater department, the Spring Play can be a time to throw out the script—and have the students write one of their own BY JESSIE SAUNDERS
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This past May, as Prep School students were turning their attention toward their final projects and seniors were merely a few weeks from graduation, there was a large, happy gathering of students sitting in a circle on the stage in the Prep School Theater. They were there to formally review the successes and challenges they faced as a group while creating and mounting the Spring Play. Unlike a traditional stage production where the actors work from a set, published script, their play, Brainstorm, had been “devised,” or made by them as a group, in every detail: the script, set design, lighting and media projections, costumes and makeup, choreography and more were all the result of an incredibly fruitful collaborative creative experience between students and guided by faculty. Sarah Cusick, the Theater Department Director, says, “every single devising project we’ve done has been different and unique.” Not every Spring Play production is a devised play, but over the past decade several productions, including Brainstorm and We Are Children Just the Same in 2014, Aftershock in 2015 and Animal Farm in 2017, have been fully or partially devised by the members of its cast and crew. In the Prep School, the process starts in the theater department’s Production Workshop class, open to tenth through twelfth graders. Students in this class apply for “jobs” that mimic careers in professional theater, from lighting design and stage managing to dramaturgy. For the first month, this core group works on the devised idea, which can spring from a source material—the first devised play at CGPS in 2008 was based on Alice in Wonderland—or from a concept or historical event. Brainstorm was based on a devised concept developed in British theater, so the students understood a basic framework which they then began to fill in. After auditions, there’s a period of, well, brainstorming—and that can present itself in ways not familiar to students used to acting in traditional plays. Often, students work using theater exercises that can feel similar to the way improv comics develop their style. Ms. Cusick says, “Right after auditions, not enough has gelled with writing or set design yet for us to get on our feet. During this period, we work to create a sense of trust within ourselves as a group and to learn more about the people in the group, using discussion and exercises. Those are some of my favorite times in rehearsal. It might seem strange, but students come to realize that the production couldn’t happen without this initial foundational work.” Senior Nina J., who participated in Brainstorm’s devising process, says, “At the beginning of the process you advocate for yourself, and it clarifies what parts of yourself you feel confident in and also allows you to identify parts of yourself that you see having a potential for growth. At the end, you circle back and examine your progress. So while Production
“There is such satisfaction and awe to stand back and realize that there was nothing there in the beginning, and now there’s this entire world.” SARAH CUSICK THEATER DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR
Workshop and devising is centered on theater, it’s also centered around student growth.” There are no hard-and-fast rules in devising, but there is a maxim the devising students live by: hold on tightly, let go lightly. Things change quickly in devising and participants have to be willing to see past their ideas to the big picture. Antonia K. ’21 participated as a sophomore and remembers, “We used iPods for the actors to be able to read their scripts because we would be writing the lines as they were on stage in rehearsal. We would make changes and say, ‘OK. Can you read this scene?’” It certainly allows students to develop critical thinking skills while learning how to work collaboratively. Nina says, “I think one lesson learned was being able to be adaptable, because sometimes you might have a certain idea in your mind and it doesn’t go the way that you want it to go, or the way that you might have expected it to go.” The legacy of the spirit of devising lives on after graduation. The Brainstorm postmortem included a visit from alumnus and recent Northwestern University graduate Noah LaPook ’14, who, while in college, was cast in his first professional production and has appeared on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. “I love devising,” he told the group, “because no matter what position you hold, you feel such ownership of the show. It’s what made me fall in love with the theater. Everything that I learned at CGPS comes into play in my career.” Despite the challenges devising presents, “It’s almost like giving birth,” Ms. Cusick laughs. “By the time we’re done, we’ve all forgotten the tough parts because of the exhilaration. There is such satisfaction and awe to stand back and realize that there was nothing there in the beginning, and now there’s this entire world.”
Photo page 34-35: The production of Brainstorm, 2018. Above right: A scene in Aftershock, 2015. Below right: The devised version of Animal Farm in 2017. (Photos courtesy of Olivia Salzano ’04)
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Field of
Dreams 1764 speaks with Milwaukee Brewers General Manager David Stearns ’03 When David Stearns ’03 was hired by the Milwaukee Brewers as their General Manager in 2015, he was the youngest GM in the Major Leagues and the third youngest ever in the history of baseball. During his tenure, the Brewers have made the playoffs twice, including the 2018 National League Championship Series and the 2019 National League Wild Card game. This April, he spoke to the Girls Varsity Softball and Boys Varsity Baseball teams before the Brewers played the Mets—his childhood team—at Citi Field. It was a memorable event for students. Jared Kimmel ’19 said, “Meeting David Stearns was an incredible experience for the entire team because not only were we able to meet a prominent figure in baseball, but also a person who came from the same community we belong to. His story was fascinating and showed us what it takes to be in his position.” Left: David Stearns ’03 (at right) talks with Milwaukee Brewers Manager Craig Counsell before a game at Miller Park.
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1764: Joanie Dean, our Prep School Director, was your teacher and she said that, though you were very strong at math, you always considered yourself a humanities person. Do you still see yourself that way? DAVID STEARNS: I probably do. And frankly, my strengths academically always centered in the humanities, writing and studying history and political science— that’s where my strengths were all throughout college, and that’s what I enjoyed studying, so I think that’s accurate. 1764: Baseball is very data-driven. Is that incongruous with a humanities background now? DAVID STEARNS: I think understanding data and appreciating humanities and the softer sciences are certainly not mutually exclusive. One of the things I took from my education, not only at Columbia Prep, but at Harvard, was how to evaluate problems of all types and how to think critically. At the end of the day, that’s what I’m charged to do in my job, and I think my education prepared me very, very well. That certainly started at Columbia Prep. 1764: You were the captain of the Boys Varsity Baseball team at CGPS. Do you think some of the leadership qualities that you use now were developed on that team? DAVID STEARNS: I have learned a lot from team sports. I played basketball and baseball my entire life. I learned a lot about failure. I learned about relying on others, about teamwork, about all the traits that you hope to learn through a group activity. I was fortunate enough to get them out of my team sports experiences, and it’s something that certainly helps me as I move along. 1764: At Harvard, you were a sportswriter for The Harvard Crimson. Did that get you thinking about other ways you could be involved in sports after college? Top: David Stearns speaks about his career to members of the CGPS community before the Brewers played the Mets at Citi Field in April. Middle: The Girls Varsity Softball team with Mr. Stearns. Bottom: Members of the Boys Varsity Baseball team laugh with Mr. Stearns after his talk.
DAVID STEARNS: That’s right. I knew I wanted to stay involved in sports, but I didn’t really know what path that would take. I really enjoyed writing, and writing for the school paper seemed to be a natural fit. I enjoyed my time writing for the Crimson: I made a lot of great
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friends, and I got to experience different sporting events all around campus. 1764: Fairly early in your career, you went to work for Major League Baseball’s corporate offices. Can you talk about that experience? DAVID STEARNS: I worked for the commissioner’s office in what was then called their Labor Relations Department. I got to interact with all 30 clubs. I did a lot of work on contract negotiations, on rules compliance, on salary arbitration. It was a huge benefit for me to be able to work there, and not only work with some really talented and smart people at the commissioner’s office, but also get exposure to all 30 clubs and try to formulate what, in my mind, were best practices that could be implemented from the club perspective. 1764: Then, after stops in Cleveland and Houston, you end up the youngest current GM in baseball and the third youngest of all time with Milwaukee. What was that first year like for you? DAVID STEARNS: It was great. I was fortunate enough to be considered, fortunate to get the job. And, when you get one of those jobs, you frankly don’t take too much time to think about the significance of it. You just have to go to work. That’s what I did—that’s what we did as a group. You have to hit the ground running. We had a really productive first year and laid the groundwork for a lot of what we’ve been able to accomplish since then. 1764: What do you see going forward in baseball? As we already mentioned, the game is very data-driven. Do you think it’s going to continue going in that direction? Are there other avenues where you think baseball is going to grow? DAVID STEARNS: I certainly don’t think the data aspect or the information aspect of baseball is going anywhere. We’re being inundated with more and more information sources that accentuate the granularity of how we can measure the game and what happens on the field every single night. So, the industry’s ability to process that information, and to create actionable instruments out of that information, is going to be one of the key pursuits of
most clubs over the coming years. I think the industry is constantly seeking ways to grow. Baseball is an international game, and the commissioner has done a great job of creating a lot of these international events that have proven exceptionally popular. 1764: You said in your talk to our students at Citi Field that you believe in coding as an essential skill for all students going forward. Can you elaborate on that? DAVID STEARNS: The data age isn’t going anywhere, and especially for entry- and mid-level job opportunities, being able to code and being able to access that information is essential. That’s something that has changed rapidly since I was in college. The computer science department at Harvard when I was there was relatively small. Since then, obviously, it has exploded. So the world of education has adjusted, frankly, in order to meet the needs of the job market right now. And I think that will only continue. 1764: I understand the question you get asked the most is, “How do I get a job in baseball?” I would like to broaden it and ask, “How do you aim for your dream job?” DAVID STEARNS: The first thing I’d say is study what interests you, and that subject doesn’t necessarily have to be in a direct line to what you think your profession is going to be. That’s really important in college. The vast majority of graduates from Columbia Prep every year go to liberal arts schools, and I would highly encourage anyone who’s at a liberal arts school to make use of all the different offerings available. I don’t think it’s essential to have a statistics degree, for example, or an applied math degree to work in a field that’s data-centric. The second thing I would say is, if there is a specific field that is that is of great interest to you, learn as much about that field as possible—it doesn’t always need to be in the context of trying to get a job. It could be in the context of networking. It can be in the context of informational interviews, or it can be in the context of reading about the industry and learning as much about the industry as you possibly can, so that when you do get that opportunity, you’re prepared to take advantage of it.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE
Class of 2019! The Class of 2019’s graduation took place at Alice Tully Hall on May 30, 2019. The commencement activities included speeches from Head of School Dr. William M. Donohue, Prep School Director Joanie Dean, top-ranking seniors Jared Wasserman, Julia Gardner, Gordon Horowitz and Bi Tian Yuan and the keynote speaker, journalist Anderson Cooper. Congratulations, graduates! The Class of 2019 matriculated to the following colleges and universities: American University American University of Paris Babson College Bard College Bentley University Brown University Claremont McKenna College Colby College
Colgate University College of Charleston Columbia University Cornell University Dartmouth College Duke University Emory University Franklin & Marshall College The George Washington University Georgetown University Harvard College Howard University Indiana University at Bloomington Ithaca College McGill University New York University Northwestern University Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences Pennsylvania State University Skidmore College Smith College Stanford University Swarthmore College
Syracuse University Trinity College Tufts University Tulane University The University of Arizona University of Chicago University of Colorado at Boulder University of Miami University of Michigan University of North Carolina School of the Arts University of Pennsylvania University of Rochester University of Southern California University of St. Andrews, Scotland University of Virginia University of Wisconsin, Madison Wake Forest University Washington University in St. Louis Wesleyan University Yale University
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Alumni Reunion
Alumni Reunion 2019 On Saturday, April 27, 2019, nearly 200 alumni, ranging from the classes of 1954 to 2014, returned to CGPS to reconnect with past classmates and reminisce. Head of School Dr. Bill Donohue and Board of Trustees member (and current parent) Dana Landis Birnbaum ’97 welcomed the group back to School. Dana Birnbaum noted that “what unifies us as alumni is that each and every one of us has formed lifelong friendships, been inspired by
incredible teachers past and present and gained from the values we learned here at CGPS, which make up so much of who we are today.” Dr. Donohue introduced two long-tenured faculty members who were retiring: Middle School Director Margo Potter and David Morss, who has served as the Chair of the History Department, Director of Admissions, Dean of Students and as a grade level Dean. He then discussed the School’s mission statement and the institution’s values: “The purpose of our great educational institution remains intrinsically the same—the values are enduring. This is the continuous and magical thread that joins Bill Silverman ’59, who is
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here celebrating his 60th reunion, to his granddaughters Sophie ’19 and Ellen ’21 Silverman. If a school remains great, it is because it is adaptive and is stewarded by a great faculty and supportive Board of Trustees. Though founded in 1764, it serves Bill Silverman in 1959 and also his granddaughters in 2019. The ‘secret sauce’ we have here at CGPS will drive this institution forward, setting precedent and continuing to deliver the foundational elements essential to producing relevant graduates ready to take on the challenges of the current world.” One highlight of the 2019 reunions was the 60th reunion of the Class of 1959. That reunion’s Committee
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Co-Chairs, Bill Silverman and Richard Hirsch, with the support of CGPS’s Advancement Office, reached out to as many classmates as they could to encourage classmates to attend the reunion. In the end, over 30 classmates attended either in person or by phone. The Class of 1959 also made a generous gift to the school, exceeding their goal of $60,000 and 60% class participation. We hope to see you at reunions! The 2020 Reunion, with banner reunions for classes ending in 5 and 0, will take place Saturday, April 25, 2020. All alumni are welcome to attend.
Alumni Basketball Tournament
Former CGPS Lions, both recent and less recent, squared off in the 15th annual CGPS Alumni Basketball Tournament on Saturday, January 4, 2020. Nearly 40 alumni practiced their handles and crossovers, put on their game faces and returned to the North and South Gyms to compete. Year after year, the tournament is a great opportunity for former students to reconnect with old classmates and create even more cherished CGPS memories.
Alumni Notes 1948
On October 23, 2019, Kenneth Gordon performed in The Senior Concert Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall. Kenneth made his professional solo debut at the age of 12 with the NBC Symphony under the direction of Leopold Stokowski, and the ensuing year he performed a Tchaikovsky concerto with the New York Philharmonic at a Young People’s Concert under Randolph Ganz. By the age of 31, Kenneth attained chairs in the MET Orchestra and in the New York Philharmonic for 46 years and retired in 2007 as assistant concertmaster for the New York Philharmonic. Kenneth was drafted into the United States Army in 1951, and he was able to serve as a musician playing music for wounded soldiers in hospitals and soldiers fighting on the front line. Kenneth has studied with Mishel Piastro, Jacques Thibaud, Yehudi Menuhin and Nadia Boulanger and has recorded for TV, film and jingles.
1950 After graduating from Columbia Grammar School in 1950, Claude Moldaver went to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he majored
in biology and graduated in 1954. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps and was stationed for two years in Ulm, Germany. After the Army, he entered Columbia University School of Hospital Administration and received a master’s degree. His career in the healthcare field spanned more than 46 years, mostly as COO and CEO of hospitals in New York City, Philadelphia, Long Island and Westchester, NY, and Paris, France. He and his wife retired to Sanibel, FL. They have two sons, Michael, graduating from Dartmouth College, and Robert, from Bowdoin College, and one grandchild. Claude says, “It would be great to learn more about my classmates. I am very pleased with how Columbia Grammar has expanded over the years. The excellent education that I received from Columbia Grammar School allowed me to further my education.”
1953 This is a picture of Stephen Sheppard, stage center, when he played the Mikado in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado.
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1956 A new challenge and joy for Michael Tepper has been learning the guitar. He read that starting a new instrument is a great way to maintain your sharpness—and he’s sure his wife will let him know if that’s the case. If you haven’t watched the Columbia Prep 2018 and 2019 winter concerts or followed the music department’s yearly productions, Michael urges you to do so, as you are in for an amazing experience. Michael says the concerts are Broadway uptown. Michael also wants everyone to follow the Columbia Prep sports teams, which have achieved several championships in the last few years. Michael continues to volunteer for the American Cancer Society and Saint Francis Hospital Cancer Center and as a fulltime critic of the New York Giants. He currently lives in Bloomfield, Connecticut. If you come his way, do not hesitate to contact him.
1958 Ilena Marberg Lieberman and Paul Lieberman celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary in May.
1962 Richard Blomberg and his wife, Susan, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with friends and family. Richard is still running Dunlap and Associates, Inc. and working hard on transportation safety projects. Nevertheless, he and Susan found time to travel extensively. They traveled to Antarctica in February, Switzerland in April to take their grandson, Zachary, on a “roots trip”
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for his high school graduation, and Iceland, France (Normandy) and Ireland in September. He is still keeping track of classmates through the CGPS publications and emails. He hopes everyone can get together soon and wishes them the best.
1964 Judy Weissman recently moved to Palm Desert, CA, where she’s playing lots of golf and Mah Jongg. Erica Edell Phillips has been meaning to send in an update since she relocated to Northern California in early 2017, moving to Forestville on the Russian River in West Sonoma County. Erica says, “I’d lived in LA since 1972 and was more than ready to retire to the pastoral beauty and slower pace of Sonoma’s wine country. Since moving here we’ve had some major fires and the flooding of the Russian River. This most recent Kincaid Fire was the closest and most threatening to me—with mandatory evacuations, horrific air quality and power outages throughout the state. Sadly this may not be the last of such events. Otherwise life here is everything I’d hoped. I recently became a board member on the Sebastopol Center for the Arts board, whose
open Art Studio events are renowned to art collectors and tourists alike.”
1965 Leslie Roth Millones sends a dispatch from Alpharetta, Georgia: “As many of you may know, my first husband was John Millones, who taught Spanish and Latin at CGPS for 39 years and passed away in 2005. Now, my second husband, Joe Avicolli, and I have recently moved from the Bronx, New York to Alpharetta, Georgia. It’s quite a big change! A real culture shock! So far we’re loving it. Everybody’s been very nice, and funnily enough, many of the people we’ve met come from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut! We both grew up in New York and took a giant leap to do this. We’re looking at it as Joe and Leslie’s Big Adventure! I’m sure we’re going to miss New York, but we thought we’d like to live in a warmer climate and make the move while we were still young and healthy enough to enjoy it, and we’re glad we did!” Robert Gelman still lives in Bethesda, MD, with his wife, Jane. They are expecting a grandchild in December. He intends to visit New York much more frequently than he has done so in the past 25 years. He is working for Leonardo DRS in the Government Compliance space. Andrew Levison is still going strong in his trademark-copyright and licensing contracts law practice. Andrew writes: “I am in touch with Tommy Schick on a regular basis by phone. I am also in touch with Andy Spathis by phone and email, and with other classmates through Facebook. Every change of season rekindles sports
memories of CGPS. Soccer in the fall, basketball from late fall to early spring and baseball from late spring through the end of the school year. Playing on the baseball and soccer teams and managing the basketball team provided me with lifetime memories of CGPS. My daughter Elizabeth is an actress on TV and in movies in NYC so she is often on location near school or in one of the boroughs that are a subway ride from CGPS. Her work keeps me in contact with NYC on an ongoing basis. I look forward to our reunion next April.”
1968 It was an unexpectedly large turnout for the Class of 1968 on April 28, 2018, for the 2018 CGPS alumni reunion. In contrast to the large graduating classes of today, just 41 graduating seniors (27 boys and 14 girls)
Alumni Notes received their diplomas 50 years earlier on June 12, 1968 at Town Hall. For the 2018 reunions, teacher Marvin Terban presented a spirited video history of CGPS to the packed gathering. The day also featured a tour of the impressive new buildings and facilities as well as the building at 5 West 93rd Street, which contained the entire Upper School for the Class of 1968. A memorable dinner followed at nearby Trattoria Il Gusto Wine Bar at 625 Columbus Avenue. Three Class of 1968 alumni worked especially hard to achieve the large turnout: Judy Flaum Jones, John Sherman and Bob Blanchard. Three esteemed former teachers came for the Class of 1968: Thomas Gatch, Upper School History, Samuel Miliken, Upper School Science and Costas Cacaroukas (“Mr. C”), Upper School Mathematics. Rafael Pastor led the alums in remembering six former classmates who passed away: Patricia Holstein Ross, Stephen Shyer, David Chasm, Douglas Erpf, Jonathan Kottler and David Elliott. One former classmate, Willie Schwartz, had such good memories of his one year (ninth grade) at CGS that he also came. Susan Tannen writes: “I live in Delray Beach, Florida, enjoying the warm weather down here. I attended the
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50th alumni reunion last year. It was fantastic! I enjoyed chatting with my former classmates. Latin and West Coast Swing dancing have been keeping me busy. I still do some private tutoring for special needs children. I play a lot of ping-pong and do some charity work.” Richard Monath earned a B.A. in political science at Hofstra University in 1972 and later completed the required 24 accounting credits at Pace University Graduate School of Business to cross over to the Internal Revenue Agent position at I.R.S. He retired from the Internal Revenue Service in January of 2008 after 30 years. Upon retirement, he received the U.S. Department of the Treasury Albert Gallatin Award, the Department’s highest career service award. Until recently, he has taken intermediate level piano classes at The Juilliard School Evening Division. Richard shares: “I attended CGS from first through twelfth grade, and entered first grade in the fall of 1957. One day after class in second grade, I asked my teacher for additional math problems to work on at home. A short time later, I skipped mid-year into third grade of the Class of 1968. I have had too many outstanding teachers to mention, and many great classmates as well. No school or other institution has had a more profoundly positive impact on my life.” Judy Flaum Jones writes: “I am still living in Scottsdale, still a realtor with Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty and still baking JJ’s Brownies. Since our great 50th Reunion in 2018, I’ve been in pretty much constant communication with two of our favorite classmates who didn’t make the reunion, Mitch Pomper and Deborah Connor Coker. Mitch lives
in Lake Worth, FL and Deborah recently moved to Delray Beach, FL. Rich Monath has also been in communication with Arlene Reif Zimmerman and I have also recently heard from Janis Delson. We had such a great reunion. Hope we can all
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do it again with a few more classmates very soon!”
1969 Sander Feinberg is still working as a corporate training developer for a large company which provides jobs to 800,000 people each year. Sander says, “My passion at work is educating our 7,000 employees about diversity and inclusion. I have created a website which promotes our Employee Resource Groups and created several eLearning courses and instructor-led trainings.” In his spare time, Sander and his wife go on travel adventures around the world and frequently take trips throughout the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where they live near Portland. He has been a photographer for many years. His ongoing project, which began over ten years ago, is researching and writing a book about his grandfather and his remarkable creative and activist friends, including Bela Lugosi, known for his role as “Dracula” in the 1931 movie.
1970 Please join the Class of 1970 for their 50th reunion on April 25, 2020. Robert Lewin writes, “I am thrilled to report that my daughter Jessica ’09 just completed her second New York City Marathon and my son Alex ’06 was married in October. The ceremony was attended by my lifelong friend, and our classmate, Andrew Stolz. I continue to practice law in New York City and Andrew continues to teach and practice medicine in Los Angeles.”
Richard Norden’s oldest son, Nick, got married in Orlando in December. Richard is also embarking on a new business venture—opening laser vision centers in China. The first is scheduled to open in Guangzhou sometime in 2020. He will continue to do what he loves—laser vision correction—in his current location. Richard is working on technology that can change eye color safely, which he says is about about two to three years away in the US. Roxane Olevsky retired from teaching three years ago, and lives with her husband, Paul, in beautiful Sanibel, FL. She writes, “I still perform occasionally. In order to spend as much time as possible with my two grandchildren, Zoey and Malcolm, I will be spending my summers in Philadelphia. Life is good! Don’t get to New York much anymore, but would love to see you all to catch up if you come our way.” Richard Rose is still living on the frontier in Colorado and continues to practice law as a senior partner in Sawaya, Rose, McClure and Wilhite, P.C. He and his college sweetheart, Mary, recently celebrated their 45th anniversary and are enjoying the nearby company of their daughters, Alexandra and Christina, their two sons-in-law (both named Jake) and their granddaughters, Reggie Rose Sanders (4) and Eden Jo Sanders (1). Ed Will and Patricia Granat Will have been married for 45 years. They were CGS high school sweethearts. From CGS they headed to Reed College in Portland, OR, and then attended the Harvard Business School, where they both graduated with MBAs in 1980. From there, Ed pursued a career in energy; Patricia became a real estate
THE
Alumni Council This past spring, CGPS established an Alumni Council to facilitate connections between young alumni and the School. Kala Deterville ’14, one of the council’s inaugural members, explains why she is excited to participate: “CGPS really helped me grow. The School helped me figure out what my talents were and what I was interested in. I know that my class communicates with each other as friends, but until now there was not really an official liaison with the School. Learning about new initiatives like the robotics program—which I would have loved—makes me happy and makes me inspired to give back to the School. This council can relay important information about the School and act as a bridge between the School and alumni.” Andrew Ruben ’08 adds, “There’s an opportunity to take a new and different approach among our peers. I had a great experience at CGPS and to come back and do something that’s really important is meaningful.” The members of this new group also include Alec Budow ’11, Max Damashek ’11, Chloe Jacobs ’11, Jess Lewin ’09, Matthew Melinger ’03, Pooja Parikh ’11, Elizabeth Pullman ’09, Madeleine Rumely ’03, Perry Skolnick ’14, Blake Zaretsky ’06 and Stephen Zaro ’11.
Alumni Notes and healthcare entrepreneur. Patricia writes, “In the mid-nineties, I founded a company that builds and operates best in class senior living communities called Belmont Village Senior Living. Today we operate with nearly 5,000 employees in major markets across America. Ed and I have two grown sons, a couple of grandkids, and a big debt of gratitude to CGS because we met each other there in tenth grade.” Alison Ross Nelson has been retired for a year now after a long career in finance. She’s enjoying her free time between playing with her five grandchildren and volunteering for a dog rescue that places dogs in loving homes. Willa Bloch writes: “In 50 years, I have worked at a wide variety of jobs but my main one has been grant writing. I’ve traveled (relatively) extensively, been married, divorced, moved to the Hartford area and managed to raise two fabulous daughters. My older daughter is now a third grade teacher in Worcester, MA. My younger one will be graduating from college this spring. None of this seems possible or even plausible! I anticipate returning to rental apartment living this winter and can honestly say that I will be delighted not to be a homeowner. I do not see retirement any time in the near future. I do see working—well, volunteering—in some capacity in the 2020 campaign.” Nathan Doctry writes: “I am doing well and still practicing orthopedic surgery in Beckley, WV. I have a wonderful wife now of eight years named Tanya. We have a home here in Glade Springs Resort in Daniels, WV. We also have a home in Denver, NC off of Lake Norman outside of Charlotte,
NC. I have two older sons, Amir and Fadil. Amir is a special education instructor in Montclair, New Jersey, and Fadil is an Athletic Director, health instructor and coach in Philadelphia. I now have four grandchildren—two girls and two boys. I also have two step-children from my wife. We have our hands full! Work is not too stressful, as it is almost like being semi-retired. In West Virginia, we live on three golf courses and I get out when I can. In North Carolina, we take our boat out as much as we can. As I wind down from orthopedics, I will segue into functional medicine, as it is the most exciting thing to occur ever in medicine regarding nutrition and lifestyle. I feel so blessed to have had the experience of Columbia Grammar and great people and friends.” Leone Pakter Wollenberg had a stroke seven years ago but is doing well. She is a mother of five and grandmother of three, including a set of twins. She writes, “My husband John is doing a good job taking care of me.”
1972 Suzanne Kirschner received the 2019 Theodore Sarbin Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (Division 24). This award “is intended to honor a specific body of work by an individual psychologist which demonstrates notable and innovative achievement in narrative and critical psychology.” Suzanne is a past president of Division 24, and in 2018-19 she also served as President of the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology, which is a section of APA’s Division of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods.
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1973 Stewart Greisman writes: “My wife, Lisa Babitz, and I are still practicing medicine on the West Side: I practice rheumatology and internal medicine and Lisa practices internal medicine and geriatrics. Lisa and I welcomed our second grandchild this past July. Two of our three children graduated from CGPS: our oldest daughter (CGPS Class of 2002) is an attending physician at Cornell Weill in NYC and our middle daughter (CGPS Class of 2006) is a large animal veterinarian practicing in upstate NY. Our youngest child is getting his PhD in molecular and cellular biology. Although he left CGPS after eighth grade (would have been Class of 2010), he is now engaged to a graduate of the CGPS Class of 2010! Obviously the CGPS imprint carries a strong influence. By default, I have remained class correspondent because I have not moved out of the neighborhood and nobody else has volunteered for the job! Please keep in touch!”
Jessica Hentoff writes: “I’m still helping young people defy gravity and other limitations with Circus Harmony in St. Louis. One of my biologicals is touring the world with Circa Contemporary Circus and performed at Lincoln Center as part of the White Light Festival. CGPS classmates B.J. Scarfone and Bradley Cohen came
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to the show along with my fifth grade CGS English teacher, Marjorie Ellenbogen! Four of my other alumni are now touring the world with Cirque du Soleil, one walks wire with The Flying Wallendas, and others are flipping, flying and flinging around the world! Look for our Peace Through Pyramids project in Puerto Rico this coming summer. If you are in St. Louis, come see my circus school and our shows year-round inside of City Museum.” Jonathan B. Kurtis writes: “My wife Jodi and I retired and moved to Palm Beach, Florida, last November. We recently purchased a home in Steamboat Springs, CO, to ski, hike and fish. Our son, Evan, lives in Denver and our daughter, her husband and two boys live in San Diego. We see Stevie Rose when we are in Denver and keep in touch with Andy Rosenthal, Andy Hague, Howie Mann and Peter Aronow. My sister, Fran, lives in New Jersey and our Mom is doing well and lives in Palm Beach near us. I am looking forward to hearing from classmates when they travel to Florida and Colorado, or anytime!”
B.J. Scarfone writes: “So far retirement from elementary school teaching has been wonderful. Finally had time to take 200 hour yoga teacher training. After teaching yoga for the past 30 years, I’m now certified. Phew! This past year I’ve been fortunate to have many opportunities to be with my BFF, Jessica Hentoff. The best was four days at my brother’s home in Lagunitas, CA. My husband and I are blessed to have a delightful grandson and are so excited for the new baby coming in March.” Andrew Rosenthal wrote: “I left The New York Times in 2018, retiring from my last job as Editorial Page Editor in 2016 after being a Pulitzer finalist for a front-page editorial on gun control; and then writing a column for two years. I have been writing again, most recently for Bloomberg View, and working on a memoir. In October 2018, I published The New York Times Book of Politics, an anthology of Times political coverage from the election of Abraham Lincoln through the election of Donald Trump. I taught international reporting at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and a seminar on race, politics and the media at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. I was a fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center.” Alan Inwood is a trial attorney in the law firm of Marshall and Inwood located in NYC. His wife, Linda, is a facilities manager at Hachette Books, which recently released the anonymous authored book that details the dysfunction and malfeasance of the Trump administration. His oldest son Jacob recently turned 30. Alan writes, “Simply to demonstrate that intelligence frequently skips a generation, he is a graduate of Columbia University. My middle son Gabriel is a
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Paul Nassar ’04 Paul Nassar has always been an artist. “My mom would leave me with paint, come back three hours later and find me still painting,” Paul remembers. This innate passion, combined with his desire to help others, led to the formation of his nonprofit, Off the Wall Graffiti. Co-founded with Maura McCarthy, Off the Wall Graffiti focuses on locating at-risk kids who are graffitiing in the streets and mentoring them through art. “Often, these kids need someone who acknowledges that they’re human beings,” Paul explains. With Off the Wall Graffiti, Paul gives young artists safe spaces to express themselves. “We don’t want them to think that they’re wrong for painting. We want them to realize they’re wrong for painting on someone else’s property.” Paul reaches out to business owners open to having their walls painted and liaises with public park officials to construct concrete walls where young painters can safely work. His outreach also extends to continuation schools, where Off the Wall Graffiti takes students through its mural-making curriculum, M2Art. Throughout a six- to ten-week class, students design and ultimately paint a mural on their school. While Off the Wall Graffiti is based in California, Paul hopes to extend the organization’s outreach to New York: “I know there are many kids here that need help.”
Alumni Notes graduate of Rutgers and my youngest son, Daniel, is a freshman at the Teachers College of New Jersey. Both older children wisely eschewed the practice of law for the profession of finance.” Alan’s brothers David Inwood ’63 and Richard Inwood ’64 are both doctors. David continues to practice child psychiatry in Brooklyn and Richard has retired from the practice of neonatology. Alan says, “Richard continues to plague my existence as my neighbor in Millburn, NJ. It is certain that my parents, Dr. Louis Inwood and Evelyn Inwood, would most assuredly certainly be proud of their children and grandchildren. They are to be congratulated for their wisdom and generosity in investing in their children’s education at Columbia Grammar and thereafter.”
shooting, followed the next day by evacuation from 2018 fires. We have already been through the first round of 2019 fires, and are grateful to all those who risk their lives to protect ours. We continue to pour and sell wine for my cousin’s winery, Navarro Vineyards, located in the Anderson Valley in Mendocino, at food and wine events throughout Southern California almost every weekend year-round. Love playing Words with Friends with Hope Schroy. Anyone who also plays, please find us and start a game. Unfortunately, we are always pouring wine when there are class reunions, but love seeing the pictures.”
1975 Susan Franks works as a Production Manager at CBS News on CBS This Morning with Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil. She writes, “I have been in TV news for over 20 years and in television for most of my career. I still live on the Upper West Side and go to the theater, ballet, opera and the movies whenever I can. I make a point of going to the gym about five days a week—fighting the inevitable—and bump into some CGPSers in the hood. Some of us haven’t strayed too far!”
1977 Val Lippmann Doran is celebrating 20 years of living in sunny Southern California. She writes, “My husband, Dan, and I moved to a new house in Thousand Oaks last year, tragically a mile away from the Borderline mass
Michael Franks writes: “I am currently serving as Director of Photography for the current reboot of All That for Nickelodeon. My son Eli is working with me on the show as a Technojib operator. I am living in Los Angeles with my wife Audrey, who is a hairstylist.”
1979 Joshua Abrams is happy to note the 15th year of Meridian Academy, an urban, project-based, interdisciplinary, intentionally small, economically diverse secondary school that he
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founded in 2005 and has led and taught at ever since. Meridian has no grades or final exams—students carry out long-term investigations and share them with the public throughout the year. Writing and arts are interwoven across the curriculum. Learning for its own sake is a joyous and daily experience at Meridian. Josh and his wife, Emily, are also celebrating their son Matthew’s upcoming wedding next fall and looking forward to the wedding of Jessie Cohen, daughter of Tom Cohen and his wife Elisa, this January. Leslie Shampaine writes: “I was grateful to CGPS because the School offered me an excellent education and accommodated my rigorous schedule of pre-professional ballet classes at the School of American Ballet. My dance career took me around the world until my retirement in my mid 30s. I then returned to NY and started career number two in documentary film. Fast forward, and I now live and work in Washington D.C. with my husband, Ori Soltes, and we have two sons in college. Today I am combining my passion for dance and filmmaking and in production on a documentary, Bombay Ballet, the story of an Israeli dance teacher in Mumbai who is inspiring underprivileged kids.”
1983 Kathy Edersheim Tuckman, Elisa Hirsch Gordon and Judy Neugroschl spent a weekend visiting Sylvia Augustus in Kansas City, Missouri, in October. They are celebrating 49 years of friendship! Here is a photo of them together at the River Market in Kansas City.
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album will be out in 2020 from 800 Pound Gorilla Records.
1987 Evan Hart is a Lieutenant Colonel in the active Army Reserve.
1986 Jon Hart published a book titled Man vs. Ball: One Ordinary Guy and His Extraordinary Sports Adventures. Gerald Richards writes: “I moved to Scotland about two years ago to help start a youth nonprofit focused on creative writing and creativity called the Super Power Agency. It’s a great organization, and we work with about 900 kids, ages 8-18, per year. This year for my 51st birthday I was joined in Edinburgh by friend and fellow alum Avery Brandon and her family, husband Gary and daughter Skyler. Avery’s big sister, other fellow CGPS alum Kyle Brandon ’82, also joined in on the festivities! Here’s a picture of Avery and me atop Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.”
You can see Ethan Herschenfeld in upcoming episodes of The Plot Against America and Betty on HBO, and Emma on Quibi. His comedy
Nicholas Kaufmann writes: “My latest novel, 100 Fathoms Below, co-written with Steven L. Kent, was a bestseller in hardcover on Amazon and nominated for a prestigious Dragon Award. The paperback came out in October, 2019. In other news, I’m still living in Brooklyn, NY with my wife Alexa. I’m in sporadic touch with our classmate John Yopp, mostly via Twitter, and would also love to hear from Dana Smart, Grant Poladian and Adam Gahtan.”
1989 Rebecca Mendel Kerievsky lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. She is a partner at the law firm Rosin Steinhagen Mendel, PLLC. At the firm, her focus is on adoption and assisted reproduction.
1990 Maddalena Loeb writes: “I live on the Upper West Side with my three children who are in high school and middle school. I am a First Grade Teacher at Fieldston Lower School, after a significant career change six years ago from the field of digital marketing. After Columbia Prep, I graduated from Tulane (’94) and much later (2016) I received my master’s at Bank Street College in general and special education.”
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Kate Smallberg ’04 and Rebecca Smallberg ’10 CGPS families often boast that CGPS is a “family school.” In the case of Kate Smallberg and Rebecca Smallberg, it’s a family business. Distant cousins who had not seen each other since childhood, the Smallbergs serendipitously teamed up in the Grammar School this fall as faculty members, Kate as GS Math Coordinator and Rebecca as a kindergarten teacher. After graduating from CGPS, Kate earned degrees in linguistics and psychology at the University of Michigan. She continued her education at Bank Street where she received master’s degrees in childhood education and math leadership. Kate attributes her love for math and education to her fond classroom experiences with Ms. Dean and Ms. K, and will always remember her time with Coach Rivera on the softball diamond. After Rebecca graduated, she went on to Syracuse, and then to Bank Street for her masters degree in early childhood and special education. Over the summers, Rebecca works as an educational consultant and Special Education teacher.
Alumni Notes 1996 Children’s book author Caron Levis visited her former second- and fourth-grade teacher, Anne Young, and the fourth graders at CGPS for an author visit in December. Mrs. Young has been very supportive of Caron over the years—from encouraging comments in Caron’s school journals to attending launch events and inviting Caron to meet her students. Caron would love to let the CGPS community know about her latest children’s books, Mama’s Work Shoes and This Way, Charlie. Mama’s Work Shoes, with art by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, is the story about how toddler Perry and her mama navigate their emotions when she returns to work. The story uses the sounds of mama’s shoes to show how they work it out, together, clickclack. This Way, Charlie, with art by Charles Santoso, is about the growing friendship between a blind horse and gruff goat. It will be released on April 21, 2020.
2003
In May, 2019, the Class of 2003 held their first reunion in almost six years. Over one-third of their graduating class made it out to the event, held at Analogue in Greenwich Village. Seeing that the reunion lasted well after the event’s end time,
class reps Matthew Melinger and Melissa Constantiner have made it a point to plan at least two meet-ups for their class each year going forward. Top row: Joshua Whitcraft, Melissa Constantiner, Billy Gentile, Adam Blumenthal, Danielle Bussolini, Matthew Melinger, Ben Zises, Ethan Ravetch, Josh Shapiro, Alex Schwartz. Middle row: Jessica Hertz, Nick Molina, Katie Ward, Ariel Yaroslawitz, Madeleine Rumley, Claire James. Bottom row: Blair Albom, Jessica Coren, Ali Smolens. Anneka Ward and her fiancé, Jonathan Cohen, plan to marry August 8, 2020, in Lakeville, CT. They have recently purchased a home in Hawthorne, NY and live there with their rescue dog, Jamie, and rescue cat, Holly. Anneka currently works at Fieldston as a Nurse for the middle and upper school. In her spare time, Anneka has been studying holistic nursing practices such as Reiki, Akashic Records, Tarot and Breathwork. Natalie Perez has spent almost the last half-decade traveling the world: She left New York to live with her now-fiancé in 2015 and spent about a year backpacking through parts of Europe, India and Southeast Asia. She ended up in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico at the end of 2016 and has been living there on and off since then. Natalie got engaged in August of 2018 and is currently planning her wedding for July, 2020 in Girona, Spain. She is also planning a move back to New York City in 2020 and cannot wait to reunite with her classmates. Josh Evans’ career continues forward with roles in The Marvelous Mrs.
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Maisel, Gotham, and Melissa McCarthy’s Can You Ever Forgive Me. He has gotten involved in service for his union, SAG-AFTRA, and helped negotiate the new 2019 Commercials Contract. Madeleine Rumely and husband Zach Naidich ’01 recently welcomed a new addition to their family on Oct 17, 2019. Both mom and baby are doing well. Ariel Yaroslawitz and husband Pat put down their roots in Philadelphia about five years ago. Ariel originally relocated so her husband could pursue his lifelong dream of opening a restaurant. That dream has since become reality, and they encourage all to stop by The Hungry Pigeon on South 4th Street when visiting Philadelphia. Ariel continues to pursue her passion in the jewelry industry and is Sales Director for a local sustainable fine jewelry company. Lara Gillman and husband Adam are still living in LA with their two boys, West (3), Lev (22 months) and their pups Eloise and Gigi. West started pre-school this year at TSONS and absolutely loves it. Lara and Adam plan on spending much more time on the East Coast and in NY in the coming years. Yianni Patsalos is busy these days running his company BCCO NYC, now the highest-rated custom print studio in New York. Recently engaged, he spends his spare time planning his upcoming wedding to be held in Jamaica in April, 2020. 2019 was a year of change and growth for Matthew Melinger. After breaking off from his team and launching a solo career as a luxury
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IN REMEMBRANCE
Jason Radin ’12 real estate advisor with Brown Harris Stevens, Matthew has since expanded to cover both NYC and the Hamptons, servicing both markets full-time for his clients. Between building a business and getting engaged this past spring, Matthew was also cast for the upcoming season of The American Dream, a real estate and lifestyle TV show that will broadcast nationwide via cable and stream via Amazon Fire and Apple TV.
2006 Blake Zaretsky Dembling welcomed her second daughter, Noa, in October 2019. David Himmel was named Chief Operating Officer at Jamestown, a global real estate company operating in five countries. Allison Groffman Rich welcomed a daughter named Penelope in August 2019. Alison Chemla is celebrating eight years of her jewelry line, Alison Lou, and got married in Morocco in early November 2019. Brittany Marom Chodorow has been running her own interior design firm, Brittany Marom Interior Design, for the past five years. She is also venturing into the home decor space with her new company, Quette Home, and creating beautiful tabletops for the home.
2004 The company that Stacy Schwartz founded, Ketanga Fitness Retreats, just celebrated its fifth anniversary, having hosted over 80 wellness vacations around the world. Rya Backer and her husband, Nick Lawrence ’02, welcomed a baby boy in June 2019.
2014 Jaeho Lee recently finished a service year with AmeriCorps through NYC Service and is now interning with the Elizabeth Warren Campaign in New Hampshire!
2018 Emma Ghalili, now at Brandeis University, launched a chapter of Partners in Health on the Brandeis Campus. According to the student newspaper, Brandeis Today, Partners in Health is “a Boston-based nonprofit healthcare organization that aims to bring modern medical science to the poorest parts of the world. PIH has projects in more than ten countries including Liberia, Russia, Haiti and Mexico. The PIH Engage program focuses on educating college communities on global issues that the nonprofit is working on.”
Jason’s mother Leona Barsky shares this memory of her son: Jason was a beloved leader and friend at CGPS, admired by fellow students, faculty, coaches and advisors. At CGPS from kindergarten, Jason founded the Business and Economics Club, served as co-editor-in-chief of the newspaper and was valedictorian, receiving the James W. Stern Award for Highest Scholarship. He was also a National Merit Scholar, received awards for chemistry and precalculus and won two Scholastic awards, one for his play “Crude Morals” and one for his Tufts Seminar essay. As a devoted basketball team player, Jason created the Hoops for Housing basketball tournament to raise funds for the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue homeless shelter with his CGPS teammates volunteering as coaches and referees. During the summers, he was a counselor at a special needs camp. Jason graduated from Cornell University in 2016 majoring in Economics, was the first college student to win the Seeking Alpha “Outstanding Performance” award for his investment research and served as President, Board of Portfolio Managers. Jason partnered with his brother, Jeffrey ’15, to found Sherman Square Marketing, a digital marketing and SEO firm that Jeffrey currently manages. Jason had pivoted from his financial services career and was pursuing a career in computer science and tech with plans to obtain a master’s in computer science. He had taught himself coding and computer languages and envisioned a future on the forefront of technological change. Jason’s friends, teachers and colleagues remember him as a person who “radiated intellectual stardom and entrepreneurial talent. He was invested in the welfare of others, especially those less fortunate than he. The entire community benefited not only from his innovative ideas but from his steady and thoughtful efforts.” They knew him as a “fiercely independent thinker who loved to debate.” He was “wise beyond his years, a great team player who exemplified sportsmanship and selflessness, funny with a terrific sense of humor, honest, kind, generous, optimistic, brilliant, creative and gifted.” Jason made his friends feel “special and valuable” with his compassionate advice, mentorship and his charismatic smile and warmth. Jason will always be with us in our hearts and minds.
1764 Looks Back 55 Years Ago The CGPS Career Internship Program, featured on page 22, has provided interns for Sloan Kettering, the Zwirner Galleries, Ballet Hispánico—and Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School’s Office of Institutional Advancement. After an introduction to the School’s history from the longest-tenured current teacher, Marvin Terban, the student interns, graduating seniors Zachary Burlant ’19, Ameen DaCosta ’19, Sophia Howard ’19 and Gabriel Klass ’19, plus rising sophomore Jack B. ’21, dove headfirst into research, interviewing notable current and former faculty members for posterity, including former Head of School Dr. Richard Soghoian and scouring the archives to discover notable alumni. “Considering the amount of known notable alumni was a bit sparse, we worked diligently to rediscover some of our fantastic alumni,” says Gabe. You can find the over 60 alumni they uncovered on CGPS’s Wikipedia page. The list includes alumni such as Jacob Rupert from the Class of 1885, a United States senator and an owner of the New York Yankees, who purchased Babe Ruth’s contract from the Boston Red Sox, leading to the famous Curse of the Bambino; and Stephen Shore ’65, who pioneered the use of color in art photography, has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and has had his work exhibited at MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While in high school, Mr. Shore met Edward Steichen and Andy Warhol and began his photography career taking pictures at Warhol’s Factory. A photograph from a less-distinguished artist—his senior yearbook photo—is featured on this page.
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CGPF
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A Gift to the CGPF supports every student’s experience every single day. It supports a 6:1 studentteacher ratio. It provides funding for innovation and challenge in our comprehensive and balanced curriculum. It strengthens our renowned music and arts programs. It ensures that students are able to compete with honor and pride on our 41 athletic teams. It funds important professional development for our faculty, who nurture and inspire intellectual and creative sparks in our students every day. It allows for state-of-the-art technological and capital improvements to our facilities. It is essential for student financial aid, helping CGPS retain extraordinary students and ensuring that they can be full participants in student life. CGPS flourishes because of our community’s continued commitment to the CGPF. We are All for One School—that is why every gift is valued, and every gift, no matter the size, counts.
Make your gift today! To donate, visit www.cgps.org/giving/give or call the Office of Insitutional Advancement at 212.749.6200 x220.
COLUMBIA GRAMMAR & PREPARATORY SCHOOL 5 W E ST 9 3 R D STREET N E W YOR K , N Y 10 0 2 5 WWW.CG P S .OR G