News of Commonwealth

A Letter from the Board of Trustees

In the past few weeks, the Board has convened a series of meetings with students, alumni/ae, faculty, and the administration to better understand the depths of the issues at hand and to begin to formulate strategies to deal with the pain that Commonwealth’s shortcomings around equity and inclusion have created. We have heard many voices in our efforts to better understand how we may create a community that manifests to all a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism. Two recent letters from alumni/ae and students to the board, one with an accompanying petition for change, make it clear that the school still has a great deal of work to do to create an environment where all feel valued and welcomed. We thank the members of our community who have come forward, shared perspectives, and suggested areas for action.

There is no place for racism nor any form of exclusive behavior at Commonwealth School. The fact that a core constituency of our school feels excluded, unwelcomed, alienated, invalidated, subverted, or silenced in any way is clearly unacceptable and is against the very foundations of the school.

As Trustees, our most important duty is to uphold the mission of the school. That mission came out of our founder’s vision to provide a highly academic program in an urban school for students from a wide range of racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. Although Mr. Merrill had some success in pursuing his vision, he also recognized how difficult the work of racial equity and inclusion was, as noted in his book The Walled Garden. After he stepped down as Head of School, the school continued the work toward his mission with some success but never quite lived up to the dreams of our founder.

We must and will push beyond good intentions to meaningful action. As we acknowledge the need for change, we admit that the school’s current leadership and this Board do not have all the answers. It is our priority as the Board to enable the process of transformation and to provide the resources necessary to resolve the many issues we face. Real change for something this deep and this important will take time. It will be an ongoing process requiring strategic commitment.

We have already begun to outline key initiatives and actions, which include:

- Committing to an ongoing, open dialogue on issues of race, diversity, and inclusion.

- Appointing a leadership group, consisting of two trustees and two faculty/administration members to lead this change: John Dowd (Board Treasurer), Janique Parrott-Gaffney ’04 (Alumna and Trustee), Mónica Schilder (Spanish Teacher and DEI leader), and Sophia Meas (Director of College Counseling). Why and how were they selected? The Board Executive Committee, two leaders from the Diversity Committee, and the Head and Assistant Head chose each of them because of their drive and commitment to carry this work through. This group will engage with individuals and existing groups, including the student and alumni/ae groups that have formed, our existing Diversity Committee, the recently created faculty task force, and our leadership behind Dive In (our summer program for rising eighth graders from diverse backgrounds). It will build on existing ideas and proposals, including those documented recently in the petition by student and alumni/ae groups. n Engaging outside expertise in the areas of diversity and inclusivity. There are professional resources we can leverage so that we may learn from the experience of others and avoid missteps.

- Holding a series of town hall meetings with the Commonwealth community so that we can continue to listen and learn. We must ensure open and inclusive communication on this topic. The objective of these meetings will be to better inform us around the challenges to be overcome, to learn of potential solutions, and to help us work collaboratively to advance the practice of real inclusivity at the school.

- Ensuring that our existing search process results in the selection of a Head of School who believes in our mission and is committed to and can further lead our initiatives around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

- Providing recurring training for the Board, faculty, administration, and students on anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion.

- Hiring an experienced Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, who will report to the Head of School and will present regularly to the Board regarding our progress on such initiatives.

- Continuing the ongoing work of assessing and modifying our curriculum and learning environment to better educate our students about anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion, while also creating a more inclusive community through those actions.

- Accelerating our work on increasing the racial diversity of the faculty, staff, and Board of Commonwealth School. A more diverse faculty enhances our entire community and can make students of color feel more welcome and a higher sense of belonging. We ultimately believe this will foster a more diverse student body.

- Continuing our commitments to Dive In, Homework Project, and the raising of funds for financial aid and student scholarships.

These steps are the beginning of a long journey towards a more inclusive future, which will make our school and the education it provides stronger and more welcoming. We all are stakeholders in Commonwealth’s success, and we have an opportunity and the commitment to bring our community together to make Mr. Merrill’s vision a reality.

The Board of Trustees of Commonwealth School is making these commitments,

Therese A. Hendricks , Chair

Graduation 2020

Class of 2020 Colleges and Universities

Boston College Boston University Brandeis University Brown University Carleton College Columbia University Harvard College Haverford College Johns Hopkins University King’s College London Macalester College New York University Northeastern University Reed College Rhode Island School of Design Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology School of the Art Institute of Chicago Swarthmore College Tufts University University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles University of Rochester Vanderbilt University Yale University

Commonwealth’s sixtieth graduation, held Friday, June 5, was certainly unlike any other in the school’s history, but the extraordinary sense of pride in the graduating class was familiar. The morning’s virtual ceremony featured tremendous performances from senior speakers Alok Ramakrishna Shetty and Abigail L. Tenenbaum and pianist Nevan Kenaz Suntareja. During the afternoon, almost all of the class’s thirty-one seniors and their families came to 151 Commonwealth Avenue at pre-arranged times to pick up their diplomas in person. Headmaster Bill Wharton greeted them (from a distance) and faculty advisors tuned in via Zoom to wish students well, with one particular sentiment shared over and over again: we will see you soon.

Left page, starting from top row, left to right: Amelia Michael ’20, Lillian Fang ’20, Alok Shetty ’20, Pamina Falk ’20, and Margo Moore ’20; Travis Chaplin ’20; Anne Murphy, Kathryn O’Rourke ’20, Brian O’Rourke, and David O’Rourke; Isabel Berkenblit and Eleanor Berkenblit ’20; Lennie Manioudakis ’20 with his brother (and their puppy!); Dr. Rekha Abichandani and Rohan Abichandani ’20; Alëna Gomberg ’20 and Luke Gomberg

This page, starting from top row, left to right: Aunnesha Bhowmick ’20; Noa Popko ’20 and Michael Popko; Josiah Thompson ’20; Headmaster Bill Wharton; Ella Markianos ’20; Collin Gray ’20 and David Gray; Lisa Bina and Lindsay Bina ’20 PHOTOS BY TONY RINALDO

FACULTY retirement: Bob Vollrath

FRENCH TEACHER

I met Bob Vollrath on the day I interviewed at Commonwealth in 1985. His midwestern warmth (he is a native Minnesotan) made me, a child of Chicagoland, feel welcome. After I was hired, I discovered he would be my student in a second-year Greek class. That elective, in which we puzzled our way through Plato’s Apology of Socrates together, was an important introduction to Commonwealth’s collaborative ethos: Teachers often took each other’s courses, sitting side by side with students, sharing moments of earnest inquiry, deep discussion, and genuine delight.

In those early years, Bob spent his summers running Camp Courage, a camp in Minnesota for the hearing impaired. He once told us, with mischievous delight, of an inspector from the state who, upon testing the camp’s “hot” water with his finger, remarked, “My, that’s kind of cold.” Bob pulled out the thermometer he had for just this occasion to demonstrate it was exactly the temperature prescribed in state regulations. That, too, was a lesson: always be mindful of the gap between policy issued from on high and the experience on the ground.

Bob’s role at the camp made sense to me, given what I’d seen of his meticulousness and warm devotion to his students. In the lean years of the early 90’s, Bob helped take up Commonwealth admission for a few years. His ability to connect with nervous fifteen-year-olds, to listen and give them reassurance, got the school’s recovery from low enrollment underway. And Bob’s organizational efficiency and tact made him the ideal Hancock Czar, dealing out staff roles, booking busses, and managing relations with Camp Winona.

Most important, Bob put together a French program that, in its rigor and its emphasis, reflected the best of Commonwealth. A challenge of teaching any foreign language in the United States is giving students a sense that the subject is substantive, that it is more than a classroom exercise or polite duty. With the French exchange program; with the immersion in film, literature, and culture; and with the friendliness, energy, and commitment he brought to the classroom for thirty-eight years, Bob made it real—and fun. I once submitted a self-indulgent essay in French class, complaining in my adolescent way about the disappointments of growing up and realizing one’s own limitations. Bob wrote in the margin: “Mais on peut toujours prendre plaisir.” In English, “But we can always have fun.” I often think of that excellent advice. —Jared Wunsch ’89

The highest purpose of education is to help us fulfill our purpose in society; here, Bob has been an educator, in this deepest sense, in the school community at large. He had more a choreography than a methodology in class, teeming with energy, moving around the classroom, pausing at the more “arresting” quotations and ideas, crouching and gazing in the distance to evaluate some new category up close, turning slowly to individual students to invite them to weigh in….and he also sought to cultivate harmony and universal respect within the school itself.

—Dan McLellan ’84

Bob is a fantastic teacher and mentor. It is hard to convince teenagers that you are on their side while giving sound advice. I speak a foreign language every day at work, and I might not have been able to do so without the confidence, study skills, and curiosity about language that I learned in Bob’s French class.

—Eric Kosinski ’97

Bob was a dynamic French teacher and so full of humor and joy, but he also invited me to serve as a counselor at the camp he ran in Minnesota for hearing-impaired kids. It was my first time away from home, and it was so challenging, empowering, and just incredibly fun! I will always be so grateful to him for inspiring me and giving me that opportunity. Few teachers bring it like Bob did.

—Jeremy Creelan ’87

I asked Mr. Vollrath to be my advisor quite randomly... It turned out to be one of the best choices of my time at Commonwealth. Mr. Vollrath always offered invaluable counsel and spurred me on through those teenage years with great kindness, for which I am deeply grateful. I remember many bright moments shared with Mr. Vollrath and a fellow advisee over plates of soup dumplings in Chinatown.

—Jay Husson ’13

Bob will forever be entwined with images of Hancock in my mind. I see him hanging out in the dining hall, wearing his old-school Commonwealth jacket, the one that says “Bobby” on the sleeve. Hancock under Bob has run like a well-oiled machine. His meticulous attention to detail in the planning stages, weeks (even months) ahead of time, and his close work with the faculty and staff means that by the time we’re scheduled to transport the entire school away for a long weekend in the woods the whole thing looks effortless. That’s not to say there isn’t sometimes a disastrous meal, a trip to the ER, or a bat in a cabin, but there is Bob, calm and collected in his jacket, helping to smooth things over. It’s not going to be the same without him.

—Rebecca Jackman, Assistant Head of School

Inside Our New Educational Adventure

The crackling conversation of an English class. A chorus of Major Jackson conducting readings before a full “house.” Then came birthday wishes at recess. An attentive crowd peppering an Natasha Dow Schüll, presenting her research on how technology assembly speaker with insightful questions. mediates our everyday life; alumnus Jake Kreilkamp ’91, discussing

So much of it felt...normal. And it all happened within Virtual his career in law and social justice work; and Whitney Phillips, who Commonwealth, behind 184 screens in 184 different places. asked attendees to examine the ethical implications of their online

Thursday, March 12, was the last official day at 151 behavior. Students took the assembly spotlight as well, sharing Commonwealth Avenue in the 2019–2020 school year. In the folprojects and capstones that ranged from helping deliver baby goats lowing two weeks, over spring break, Commonwealth’s faculty and to examining the sociolinguistic gender dynamics on an early-aughts staff overhauled the school’s curriculum and student services for the emo music website. virtual setting (all while adjusting to the pandemic in their own lives). By the end of the semester, the academic ground covered had met The result—Virtual Commonwealth, the school’s online learning and in some cases surpassed expectations, adjusted as they were for platform—brought a semblance of normalcy to a world reeling from the online format. As Headmaster Bill Wharton made clear early on: the coronavirus pandemic. this was not fully developed online education, which takes months if

Powered by the now-ubiquitous Zoom, Virtual Commonwealth not years of tailored curriculum design. Rather, it was education in a simplified and centralized the online classroom experience. More time of crisis. But students, faculty, and staff rose to the challenge. importantly, this digital space, unique to Commonwealth, served as a proxy for that beloved brownstone on Comm Ave. By adhering to much of the “normal” schedule, each day By adhering to much of the “normal” schedule, each day in in Virtual Commonwealth retained a familiar rhythm, and Virtual Commonwealth retained a familiar rhythm, and many classes many classes went on much as they normally would— went on much as they normally would—albeit with more cameos albeit with more cameos from small children and pets. from small children and pets. Science courses relied on online simulators and written “labs.” Art teachers challenged students to create using the materials at hand. Even admissions went digital, with an array of virtual events for admitted students and their families.

Morning recess became a meaningful daily touchpoint early on. Students continued calling club meetings and shouting out birthday wishes as they have all year. April, being National Poetry Month, saw readings of both original works and the likes of W.H. Auden and Pablo Neruda. And themes like hats, outrageous hair, and twin day enlivened the gallery view in Zoom.

Commonwealth’s virtual assemblies were welcome returns to normal as well. The first saw poet

From the very first day of online classes, it was clear that students and faculty were eager to be back together, if only virtually. Even regular lunch tables opted to meet in Virtual Commonwealth so they could continue eating as a group.

Though some teachers initially reported more subdued classes as students adjusted to the new format, others spoke of the same lively discussions they knew so well, even of enhanced engagement, as some usually quiet students could contribute to discussions more easily using chat. Still, concerns about the increased screen time remained top of mind.

After one month of Virtual Commonwealth, students were surveyed about their online learning experiences, with a particular focus on pacing, workload, and screen time. Responses were largely positive, though many students found the online format challenging: of the seventy students who responded, 58.5% said it was “harder” or “substantially harder” to focus on their schoolwork (36% said it was about the same). Seventy-two percent reported spending a hefty seven or more hours in front of a computer or other screen (not counting television) every day, with virtual classes constituting a majority of those hours. Fortunately, students seemed to balance all that screen time with physical activity; a majority (40%) said they exercised at least once per day, and 33% said they did several times per week. Only 4% did not exercise at all.

As for student wellness, Commonwealth’s faculty advisors were the first line of defense, attending to individual students’ academic and emotional needs. Almost all students (97%) said they met with their advisors every week.

As it often is, Commonwealth’s small size was one of its biggest strengths throughout the spring ordeal—and will likely continue to be so as the school adjusts to whatever the 2020–2021 school year may bring. Hybrid classes (a mixture of online and in-person sessions) seem likely, and the school is prepared to make a rapid shift to all-online classes again, should the need arise.

In short, Virtual Commonwealth won’t be going away any time soon. But, as students and teachers learn to use the online format to their advantage, that may not be a bad thing.

UNCOMMON COMMUNITY: How Commonwealth Stayed Connected

As they came to grips with the realities of social distancing, Commonwealth students and staff were quick to find ways to keep their community connected and spirits strong...

After-school athletics continued with biweekly dance, yoga, and running (well, pre-run stretching) groups, while some of our most active students, such as Ryan Phan ‘22, shared their favorite exercises conducive to being inside, like squats, toe touches, and crunches.

Student groups hosted movie nights with Netflix Watch Party, tuning in for Alex Strangelove and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is as cool now as it was thirty years ago).

Led by Kathryn O’Rourke ’20, Commonwealth students started a quarantine book club, opting to read The Spoils of Poynton, by Henry James.

Commonwealth’s art and literary magazine, Helicon, launched a special feature on joy, calling on Commonwealth students and teachers alike to submit poems, stories, and other works in real time.

Early in the shutdown, Alec Bode Mathur ’20 launched a pass-around story, with students writing in a shared Google Document, each using a different font so later contributors could see the evolution of the story. (There were dogs, there were UFOs, there was professional-wrestlerturned-actor John Cena.)

English teacher Mara Dale started a collection of recipes, The Mermaid Pantry-Recipe Cookbook: Good Food for Hard Times.

Students shifted their volunteering strategies, as when Alan Plotz ’21, Aunnesha Bhowmick ’20, and Amelia Michael ’20 turned the school’s annual supermarket drive to support a local daycare for homeless children into an Amazon wishlist. Others launched new initiatives, including multiple tutoring opportunities and fundraisers for personal protective equipment (PPE).

Emi Neuwalder ‘21 and Dina Pfeffer ’22 called on their peers to sew reusable masks for healthcare workers and patients.

Fomin Brothers Recognized as Basketball All-Stars

Fomin brothers Nick ’20 and Thomas ’22 were named as All-Stars in the Massachusetts Bay Independent League.

The sibling duo led the team throughout the season, which ended in a first round playoff loss to Marie Philip.

Andrew Haggerty ’21 Wins Crescendo International Competition

Pianist Andrew Haggerty ’21 won first place at this year’s Crescendo International Music Competition, in which he performed Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It is his fifth first-place finish in this competition, a staggering number for the junior.

“I was very honored and excited to perform in such a contemporary venue in front of a large audience,” Andrew said.

Ninth Grader Wins Inaugural Award in National Math Competition

Linda He ’23 was awarded an inaugural Maryam Mirzakhani AMC 10 Award as a top-five female scorer in the Northeast region of the tenth-grade mathematics competition. The awards were granted to 149 female students across the U.S. While the next rounds of this year’s competition are on hold, Linda looks forward to seeing how far she can go in the years to come.

Dramatist Places Third in State Shakespeare Competition

Amalya Labell ’21 finished third in the state-wide English-Speaking Union Shakespeare Competition. She performed a monologue from Antony and Cleopatra, Sonnet 40, and a cold reading from Romeo and Juliet alongside other high schoolers from across Massachusetts.

In January, Amalya earned the honor of representing Commonwealth in the competition after winning the school’s annual Shakespeare assembly, in which students presented monologues to the whole school and a panel of guest judges. From there, Amalya advanced through the regional competition to get to the state-wide event.

Senior Co-Authors Published Paper on Neural Networks

The International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) accepted a paper co-authored by Alex Ding ’20 and a group of postdoctoral researchers at UMass Lowell for publication. The paper shares research findings on improving diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) using neural networks and machine learning.

“ROP is a retinal disease primarily affecting premature infants,” Alex explains. “Many developing nations, such as China and India, lack trained ophthalmologists to handle the large number of premature infants, so scientists have attempted to automate the diagnosis of ROP using computer vision, especially machine learning.”

Two-Person Debate Team Takes Top Spot

The Commonwealth Debate team, represented only by Nick Gabrieli ’20 and Miles Kodama ’22, took first place in a March tournament hosted by Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut. It was a remarkable showing from the duo, usually part of a team composed of eight students, competing across the novice and advanced levels.

Miles finished in first place and Nick third in the advanced individual speaking category, and the pair finished first in the two-person advanced category to finish in the top spot overall, beating out The Hotchkiss School and Joel Barlow, a public high school in Connecticut.

Afterwards, Nick was offered a spot on the Debating Association of New England Independent Schools team for their upcoming Worlds competition. (Learn more about their debate coach, Commonwealth teacher César Pérez, on page 28.)

COMMUN Conference Goes Online

Despite the disruption caused by COVID-19, the student organizers of COMMUN, Commonwealth’s Model UN Conference, successfully transitioned to a virtual format, reimagining months of work in a matter of weeks. Bringing together around sixty middle-school delegates from Boston-area schools and Model UN clubs, the event was a testament to students’ flexibility and ingenuity, as they preserved the face-to-face engagement essential to the event.

“I’m incredibly proud of how adaptable both our team and the delegates were through the process,” said COMMUN’s Secretary-General Alec Bode Mathur ‘20. “It was great to be able to preserve the event since I know a lot of people spent a long time looking forward to attending it, and we’ve all had to forgo so many of the things we’d had planned for the spring.”

SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING AWARDS

Vivian Ye ‘22: First Pride

This year, as is often the case, a bevy of budding artists from Commonwealth’s art studios have been recognized locally and nationally by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

With the creative and collaborative environment that flows through the halls of Commonwealth, it is no wonder that so many students gain recognition for their work. One finds musicians jamming in cubby areas and sharing lyrics that could turn into poems. Doodles fill the pages of the student newspaper, The Commonwealth Chronicle, as a testament to the restless energy and creative juices that pour out onto notebooks in every classroom.

“In the creative arts and in writing, our students know what it is to give themselves fully to a task,” Headmaster Bill Wharton said. “When we talk about the liveliness of the life and work at Commonwealth, we’re pointing to this full commitment, and that shared commitment enables our students to turn out distinctive work year after year.”

Students commit to their work under the guidance of a dedicated arts faculty, which provides expertise in a large number of disciplines. In one of the three studios in the building, students experiment with and choose from drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, and photography. In English and Creative Writing classrooms, students hone their voice with the written word and might publish their work in the aforementioned Chronicle or in Helicon, a literary and art magazine produced by students.

“It is incredible to see their hard work and creativity pay off,” photography teacher Samantha Nieto added. “It truly shows what our students are capable of achieving.” n

Alok Shetty ‘20: Only Begotten Son

Pamina Falk ‘20: Downright Beastly

Alëna Gomberg ‘20: The Master’s Last Goodbye

James Wu ‘23: Time (left) and My Cowboy Life (above) Pamina Falk ‘20: Lady Moon replaces her horns

SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING AWARDS WINNERS The Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mentions are given on a state-wide level.

WRITING

Gold Key

Alec Mathur ’20, Personal Essay and Memoir, “How To.” Ella Markianos ’20, Poetry, “Salt Stains” Markus Tran ’21, Poetry, “Homesick”

Silver Key

Ella Markianos ’20, Writing Portfolio, “New Thoughts, Old Thoughts”

Honorable Mention

Alec Mathur ’20, Short Story, “States of Dependency” Ella Markianos ’20, Poetry, “A Few Love Poems” Amelia Orwant ’21 (2), Poetry, “Fragments” and “Boston Winter”

VISUAL ARTS

National Gold Medal

James Wu ’21, My Cowboy Life, Colored Pencil*

Silver Key

Alëna Gomberg ’20, The Master’s Last Goodbye, Printmaking James Wu ’23, Time, Colored Pencil*

Honorable Mention

Hannah Jenkins ’22, Globe Light, Photography Pamina Falk ’20, Lady Moon replaces her horns, Digital Art Pamina Falk ’20, Downright Beastly, Comic Art Alok Shetty ’20, Only Begotten Son, Ceramics & Glass (15 inches tall) Vivian Ye ’22, First Pride, Oil on Canvas*

*These works were produced independently, outside the Commonwealth classroom.