CA Magazine Spring 2009

spring 2009

Teacher, Mentor, Leader The Dresden Years 2000–09 Class Notes

Elizabeth Kremer ’09 Collections, Artists Books, Fall 2008

CO NCO RD ACADEMY MISSIO N Concord Academy engages its students in a community animated by a love of learning, enriched by a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives, and guided by a covenant of common trust.

Students and teachers work together as a community of learners dedicated to intellectual rigor and creative endeavor. In a caring and challenging atmosphere, students discover and develop talents as scholars, artists, and athletes and are encouraged to find their voices.

The school is committed to embracing and broadening the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and talents of its people. This diversity fosters respect for others and genuine exchange of ideas.

Common trust challenges students to balance individual freedom with responsibility and service to a larger community. Such learning prepares students for lives as committed citizens.

spring 2009

Editor

Gail Friedman Managing Editor

Tara Bradley Design

Irene Chu ’76 Class Notes Editor

Ingrid von Dattan Detweiler ’61 Editorial Board

Tara Bradley Director of Communications

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Gail Friedman

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Associate Director of Communications

Pam Safford Associate Head for Enrollment and Planning

Carol Shoudt Major Gifts Officer

F E A T U R E S

Lucille Stott English Teacher, Advancement Writer

Meg Wilson Director of Advancement

9 A Critical Look Inward

by Gail Friedman

Elizabeth “Billie” Julier Wyeth ’76 Director of Alumnae/i Programs

15 Teacher, Mentor, Leader The Dresden Years 2000–09

Editorial Intern

by Lucille Stott

Daphne Kim ’10 A Jewel Worth a Kingdom Photography Interns

by Wanda Holland Greene

Libby Chamberlin ’09 Alison Merrill ’09

Sound Advice

D E P A R T M E N T S 2

Message from the Head of School

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Letters to the Editor

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Campus News

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Alumnae/i Profiles Lucinda Jewell ’76 Michael Allio ’82 Sally Newhall Freestone ’62 Elizabeth Newbury ’98

by Nancy Shohet West ’84

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CA Bookshelf

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Athletics 2009 Winter Highlights Profile: Jake Dresden

by Tara Bradley

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Arts Q&A: Theo Stockman ’03

by Claire Moriarty ’05 Write us

Concord Academy Magazine 166 Main Street Concord, Massachusetts 01742 (978) 402-2200 magazine@concordacademy.org www.concordacademy.org © 2009 Concord Academy Committed to being a school enriched by a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives, Concord Academy does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, creed, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin in its hiring, admissions, educational and financial policies, or other school-administered programs. The school’s facilities are wheelchair accessible.

Cover photo by Tim Morse Concord Academy magazine is printed with soy-based ink.

The Tao of Jake

by Eric M. Berger ’01 The Heart of a Teacher

by Peter Laipson A Steady Voice

by Ellen Condliffe Lagemann ’63 The Chapel, Personified

by Henry Becton P ’96, ’02 He Loved This School. We Love Him Back.

by David Michaelis ’75 Hard Sell, Easy Decision

by Patricia Hager Not Mom, But Close

by Lewis Salas ’09

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Alumnae/i Association Update

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Class Notes

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In Memoriam

message from the head of s chool

Evolution of a leader

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2007 9

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Tim Morse

Reflections on Teaching, Learning, and Leading

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recall, in my undergraduate days, being assigned readings in several history courses that were titled “reflections” and wondering what that meant. A reflection can be an image—a likeness of what is actually there—or a remembrance and reconsideration of an idea, remark, or opinion. One of my favorite pieces of literature is Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, written by the Roman emperor and philosopher between 170 and 180 CE while on campaign. These “meditations” cover a wide range of themes and topics, many related to familial, civic, and public duties and responsibilities, set in the midst of the late classical world. They resonate more than usual these days, for this time in my career feels like a time for meditation, for contemplation of what I have accomplished and what I have learned in the process. Happily, my Quaker leanings help me craft my thoughts in a context of service, since that is what I think I have done these past forty-three years.

I was not entirely an “accidental” teacher, having grown up in a European home where teaching was considered a noble profession, highly valued and respected. My dad was not always sure I could handle teaching; I recall his oftenrepeated suggestion that I was better suited to be a lawyer, perhaps because as a third child I was often self-confident beyond my knowledge and experience.

Nevertheless, teaching became my calling and quickly, in my first years, I derived great satisfaction from working closely with bright minds. First they were all

girls, then all boys, each child bringing her or his own way of learning, but always motivated. Those years of teaching and coaching taught me much, probably more about myself than about the lessons I imparted to my students. Like many other teachers, I have heard from former students who remembered their class with me and attributed their success to my inspiration, even though I have only rarely remembered the incident cited as the source of that inspiration.

During my next phase I took on some leadership positions, combining the teaching of students with the initial work of leading adults. What I learned during this stage was the close and essential relationship between guiding and leading students and doing the same with adults.

Clarity, transparency, and a love of the work always trumped uncertainty and skepticism, especially in the years when I was a college counselor at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. It was great training for me to work with parents, students, teachers, and colleges to arrive at a good college choice. Information, decision-making, and listening were all skills honed in these years—skills that have been critical to my leadership responsibilities these last eighteen years as a head of school.

During my first head position, at the Collegiate School in New York, a board president made a simple but powerful point to me that has stuck and guided all of my work there and here at CA. He said, “Jake, only two things matter in the school—how good the students are and

sometimes it is that. Being ultimately responsible for what happens at school is a great weight, especially in a boarding school. Yet there are so many rewards, often small and not easily seen, but deep and memorable. During this difficult winter, a ninth-grade boy approached me in the dining hall during lunch to say that he thought I was doing a great job under trying circumstances, and he wanted to tell me because he assumed I was not hearing much of that. A senior girl wrote an email with the same message not only to me but to the whole leadership team I have assembled—a beautiful moment of affirmation for me and the leadership model I have nurtured at CA. In closing, I want to express a heartfelt thank you to the CA community for allowing me the opportunity to lead our school for these past nine years. When I was offered the job in December 1999, I sensed a great chance to grow and evolve in my career, something I saw as essential to my effectiveness as a leader. While an instructor at Teachers College of Columbia University from 1998 to 2000, I had worked closely with aspiring heads of school (six of whom became heads) and had seen how important my guidance was to them. Around that time, I realized my desire to steer others toward the joys of school leadership, despite the increasing complexity of the work. Often I hear potential school leaders say, “I don’t really want to be a head: it is too much stress, not enough reward.” And surely much of what is visible in the work of leadership seems fraught with challenge and conflict.

But that is not all there is; in fact, it is but a small part of a much larger sense of guiding an institution toward its bright future. A CA trustee said recently, during a conversation about next year’s budget, “Our job is to assure the school in fifty years, not only next year.” I call that vision, looking ahead of where things are now and setting in place the people, ideas, and resources to guarantee the school’s continuing success, thereby continuing a flow of graduates who know that their role in life is to make a difference.

This brings me to a final thought, in the form of an Aurelian meditation: Take what you are given and multiply it into a force for good, for only by seeking to expand works for good will the world in fact get better. It has been my good fortune to do this at CA, to the best of my ability. May the school continue to prosper and thereby improve our world.

With much gratitude,

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how good the faculty is. If you get those two things right, everything else will follow.” It is true that good schools are about learning (the students) and teaching (the faculty). Assuring the quality of both makes for a great school that families want their children to attend, where teachers want to teach, and that people want to support financially. Clearly, the execution of this simple principle is the hard work of great schools like CA, perhaps analogous to author Jim Collins’s tenet of getting “the right people on the bus.”

As my career evolved as a school leader, I learned other lessons that have, in total, become my philosophy of leadership. Among these is the belief that mission should be simple, clear, memorable, and always in the conversation, whether one is considering budgets, admissions decisions, or curriculum. Furthermore, school communities flourish when there is a strong sense of identity and culture, fostered most, I think, by real engagement in decision making and responsibility. This means that students will “love” their school when they “own” it, faculty and staff will extend themselves when they feel valued and respected, and trustees will support and guide the school well when they feel truly invested in its future. All of this happens, I believe, when the head allows school leaders to do their work, faculty and staff to do theirs, and students to feel engaged and accepted. All I have done at CA these past nine years emanates from this concept.

Many imagine that leadership is mostly hard work and trouble, and surely

(“From Main Street to Wall Street,” Winter 2009). The cover is clever and eye-catching. The interviews by Sarah Bartlett ’73 are excellent.

I’m surprised Peter Fisher ’74 didn’t mention taking Hugh Fortmiller’s Theater of the Absurd class at Middlesex—perhaps the most relevant background for the current economic situation.

Rich Read ’75

IT IS INTERESTING to note that the

r 2009 winte

et Stre Maineet m o r s r e t F alls oSn the Front Lin to GW sis ate radu ic Cri d ore nom CA Hon e Eco tae/i of th meri ers E Teach New

meltdown of Long Term Capital Management, which was believed capable of bringing down the entire world financial system, did not kindle a single spark of recognition of the danger of excessive leverage or of an unregulated derivatives market. The outsized returns earned by the wizards of Wall Street are largely based not on acumen, but on the ability to borrow. In the winner-take-all society that the United States has become, moderation holds no appeal. As long as your bet is big enough, you only have to be right once and, as we all know, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Better yet, the bigger the risk, the more likely you will get bailed out and have your bonuses funded by taxpayers.

While the current crisis will undoubtedly lead to certain changes in regulation, we should not expect that to last long.

With the revolving door between the regulators and the regulated spinning ever faster (does anyone in the Obama administration even remember their promise about hiring lobbyists?), we can expect more of the same in the future.

Elizabeth Aelion ’76

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

Concord Academy magazine welcomes letters to the editor. Please send correspondence to magazine@concordacademy.org or to Concord Academy, 166 Main Street, Concord, Massachusetts 01742.

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Adam Fedderly/Courtesy CosmoGirl, Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009

LETTERS

The Activist

CONGRATULATIONS on a super issue

atie Simon ’10 recently received a Born to Lead Award from CosmoGirl magazine for her work with Minga, the nonprofit organization she founded to fight the sex trafficking of children.

She was profiled in the December/January issue with ten other winners, including singer Taylor Swift, actress Christina Ricci, and Olympians Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson. CosmoGirl called Katie “The Activist.”

Katie earned of the competition while Googling youth awards and submitted a 300word essay explaining why she was born to lead. “We found Katie among the almost 27,000 entries we received this year from readers,” said Susan Schulz, who was editor-in-chief of CosmoGirl before it recently folded. “We all just fell in love with her — we were struck by her bravery to tackle such a gritty cause as sex trafficking, and to do so not only in the

C AM PUS NEWS

Libby Chamberlin ’09

Kevin Jennings, center, helping students celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Gay-Straight Alliance he helped found at CA

Kevin Jennings: History Lessons

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evin Jennings, former CA history teacher and founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), returned to Concord Academy for an assembly in December, during which he presented a history of homosexuality and gay activism as well as a personal reminiscence of the CA that helped him summon the courage to come out as gay.

Jennings, who taught at CA in the 1980s, said the tradition of chapel talks gave him the courage to come out. He called the talks an “amazing tradition of getting up and telling the truth” and said, “It made me think I could do it.”

The author of Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son, Jennings helped begin the nation’s first high school Gay-Straight Alliance while at CA. “You should be incredibly proud of this history,” he told CA students.

“How many people can say they went to the place where an entire civil rights movement started?” But, he warned, “not every place is Concord Academy,” and described the constraints he still faces (and often ignores)

when he speaks at some schools.

Jennings’s assembly chronicled historical events, including the effect of the industrial revolution on gay rights, 1979’s first gay March on Washington, and Anita Bryant’s Save Our Children initiative, as well as tolerant attitudes that prevailed among Native Americans during the earliest chapter of U.S. history.

“Among Native Americans, transgendered people were thought to have a special bond with the spirit world,” he said.

He told the audience that America could blame Samuel Slater for perpetuating the “gay lifestyle” because he built the first textile mill. With no children needed to work the farm, people had less reason to marry. Higher education for women also contributed to a lifestyle without marriage, and because many women were educated in the Boston area, the practice of single women living together became known as “Boston marriages.”

Awareness about homosexuality continued to rise during World War II. Applicants to the Women’s Army Corps were asked if they were homosexual, which “made them

realize they were not alone in their feelings,” Jennings said. “For a lot of gay people, this was a huge revelation.”

During the Eisenhower administration, he said, the president backed off a request for names of homosexuals in the military when a female sergeant, Johnnie Phelps, told him that her own name would be on the list.

Toward the end of the assembly, Jennings spoke about his experience at Concord Academy, recalling the emotion that surrounded his chapel talk, a nightmare that someone had scrawled “faggot” on his car, and his fear about what he’d find after chapel in his first class, only to walk into Latin American history and discover “We love you, Kevin” and “We’re so proud of you” on the blackboard.

Jennings urged students to take a stand. “Whenever you take a leap of faith, you’ll always be glad you did,” he said. “The only things you’ll regret in your life are the things you don’t do.”

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U.S. but overseas as well. We wanted to honor her to help her get more attention for her cause, and to award her some funding to help her keep her efforts going.” Katie received $5,000 along with the honor.

Schulz said community service alone would not earn Born to Lead attention. “We look for something different and special in the selection of our winners,” she said. “Either they are doing something that no one has attempted before, or tackling a problem in a smart new way, or going up against authorities like David against Goliath in order to fight for something they believe in.”

After the issue appeared, hits on Minga’s Web site tripled, and interest in the clubs increased. Minga has a club at CA, as well as at numerous other schools. “About fifteen new Minga clubs started up in the past few months, largely as a result of that publicity,” Katie said.

Schulz said she looks forward to seeing what Katie continues to achieve and is humbled by all that she had accomplished by age 16, when she won the award. “Thousands of young people around the world are lucky to have Katie fighting for them,” she said.

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athematics teacher and department head George Larivee once said that he approaches math like a doctor — attempting to “diagnose” the problem when a student doesn’t understand, and to cure it by figuring out where logic has gone astray.

He seems to take the same diagnostic approach to making a difference in the world, and has become as famed on campus for his dedication to community service as he is for his acumen with algebra and

Dean of Faculty Peter Laipson and Academic Dean John Drew, Head of School Jake Dresden chose Larivee “because of his exceptional devotion not only to his students at Concord Academy, but to students in Latin America and around the world. Held in the highest esteem by his faculty colleagues, George embodies the ideals of intellectual rigor, creative endeavor, and service to a larger community that are mentioned in CA’s mission statement.”

Hammer Chair designees can use the fellowship funding to complete a special project involving research, writing, travel, acquisition of new skills, or any other activity that will enrich their teaching. Previous Hammer Chairs include English Department Head Liz Bedell and former film teacher Marc Fields. Larivee plans to use the fellowship to continue his literacy advocacy in Nicaragua.

This summer he will open two more rural libraries and, for the first time, he expects to take CA students — five of them — along for the experience.

George Larivee, left; a library he built in Nicaragua and one of its patrons, below Photos by Geoge Larivee

Tara Bradley

CAMPUS NEWS

Larivee Named Hammer Chair

statistics. In support of his service around the world, in particular his singlehanded efforts to open libraries in rural Nicaragua, Larivee has been named the Katherine Carton Hammer ’68 Endowed Faculty Chair.

The three-year fellowship was established in 1998 in memory of Katie Hammer, a member of the Class of 1968 and head of the CA Board of Trustees from 1995 to 1998.

A fervent supporter of the faculty, Hammer considered talented, inspiring teachers to be the key to CA’s character and continued strength. Following her untimely death in 1998, her family and friends decided that the most meaningful way to honor her commitment to Concord Academy would be to endow a permanent fund to reward and support gifted teaching.

The Hammer Chair funds three summers of professional advancement for a midcareer teacher identified as a strong presence in the classroom and an intellectual leader in the school. In consultation with

Appreciating Euler

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Amy Albrecht

enowned mathematics professor William Dunham brought his passion for eighteenth-century genius Leonhard Euler to CA in

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

Amicable: Some of CA’s math enthusiasts with Professor William Dunham, after his talk on Leonhard Euler

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December, presenting “Euler: The Master of Us All” at an assembly.

CA math teacher Selim Tezel had accompanied colleagues to a Dunham lecture and, impressed by his insight and dynamic teaching style, approached the speaker afterward, which led to his CA visit.

Dunham, the Koehler professor of mathematics at Muhlenberg College and a visiting professor at Harvard, illuminated the wondrous mind of Euler, describing a savant who could multiply ten-digit numbers in his head and who remains “the most prolific mathematician ever, by far.”

Euler’s collected works consume seventy-five volumes and 25,000 pages; he solved

problems that had stumped generations of mathematicians, and continued to produce a paper a week even after he lost most of his vision.

“Euler should be as famous as Shakespeare, Rembrandt, Bach,” said Dunham, author of popular books on the history of mathematics such as Journey Through Genius and The Mathematical Universe, which the Association of American Publishers designated as the Best Mathematics Book of 1994. His expository writing has been recognized by the Mathematical Association of America with the George Pólya Award and the Beckenbach Prize.

During his assembly, Dunham captured the non-

numerically inclined with descriptive stories of Euler.

Tezel’s Geometry, Analysis, and Calculus classes had read extensively from Dunham’s Journey Through Genius beforehand, placing in historical context topics such as the algebraic solution of cubic equations, the existence and validity of non-Euclidean geometries, and the fundamental questions that gave birth to differential and integral calculus.

The evening after his assembly, Dunham gave a more specialized lecture to thirty-five students, faculty, and parents, delving into Euler’s number theory and amicable numbers.

Gail Friedman

Update: One Brick at a Time

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Hop: Bible+Koran+Torah,” and “Awareness of Personal Privilege.” The entire CA community gathered at midday to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama, then continued with afternoon workshops, including “Dr. King as Orator” and “Take Action! MLK Would Be Proud!”

Some CA students did take action: Two groups spent the day off-campus, performing community service at Rosie’s Place and Community Servings.

English teacher Ayres Stiles-Hall led a seminar on privilege on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Learn more about MLK Day at CA at concordacademy.org/mlk.

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oncord Academy began its Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration with a provocative performance by artist, poet, photographer, and filmmaker Kip Fulbeck (above).

Political activist, diversity expert, and sometime standup comic, Fulbeck shared films, poems, pop-culture quizzes, photos, and plenty of insight into personal identity. He began by verbally filling out a job application, fixating on the need to check only one ethnicity.

Fulbeck was funny, but his themes were not. He compared the cost of the war in Iraq to the cost of providing adequate health care. He discussed the dollars Mormons poured into efforts that defeated Proposition 8, which would have legalized gay marriage in California. And he

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Libby Chamberlin ’09

Identity Theft

described his Hapa Project, which included portraits of people and their answers to the deceptively simple question, “What are you?” Surprises abounded, including a tattooed, bearded man with a tough expression who called himself “a family man” and “people person.” (Hapa refers to people of Asian or Pacific Islander heritage, and sometimes more generally to people of mixed race and ethnicity.)

Fulbeck, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, debunked stereotypes and encouraged people to do the same. He chided celebrities who don’t take advantage of their public platform. “Speaking out is not what you get to do with fame,” he said. “Speaking out is what you have to do with fame.” Despite his decisive points of view, Fulbeck encouraged dissent. “I would much rather you disagree with me if you can back up your arguments with your own research,” he said.

The program kicked off a day dedicated to King’s legacy.

After Fulbeck’s performance, students chose among sixteen workshops, devoted to topics such as “Exploring Socioeconomic Status in the U.S.,” “Langston Hughes: Harlem Renaissance Writer,” “Hip-

2008 and currently provides daily education to more than seventy students. Additionally, the well provides clean drinking water to the entire community. Without the well, many girls would be forced to miss school to walk miles each day in order to find water.

—Elizabeth Lamkin ’09

Libby Chamberlin ’09

wo years ago, a group of students created a club called One Brick at a Time and raised funds to build a school in Sierra Leone, where an eleven-year civil war had debilitated resources and infrastructure.

With the help of the CA community, the group raised $15,000 to build a school, an outhouse, and a well in the village of Sukudu. Thanks to efforts at CA, the school was completed in September

CAMPUS NEWS

Taibbi Speaks at CA olling Stone political columnist Matt Taibbi ’87 shared stories of his unconventional career at an assembly in February, regaling CA with bad-boy stories — of being a professional basketball player in Mongolia, the founder of an underground newspaper in Russia, and, more recently, chronicler of the characters who define American politics.

“My entire life story’s a lesson about what not to do,” Taibbi began, a believable intro to a variety of shocking anecdotes — mostly from his years in Russia — about publishing a fake issue of the Moscow Times that triggered diplomatic calls to Washington, conning Mikhail Gorbachev into believ-

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Tara Bradley

CA’s Director of Academic Technology Ben Stumpf ‘88, Matt Taibbi ’87, and Ariana Green ’00

ing pro football’s New York Jets wanted to hire him as the team’s “perestroika coordinator,” and finding three ex-KGB agents in his room the day after he wrote “one negative line” about the president of Uzbekistan.

Taibbi originally studied Russian so he could read his favorite authors in their native language, then ended up spending several years in Russia, where, besides doing serious and less-than-serious reporting, he was a bricklayer in Siberia, a servant in a monastery, a student in a Russian high school, a clown, and a moonshine dealer.

In a preface to his speech, he lamented taking CA for granted while he was here and

not staying in touch with teachers, adding that he “spent eleven years of my life in Russia because of John O’Connor.”

Throughout his comedic anecdotes were reminders that Taibbi — journalist, actor, clown, and provocateur — has made his name as a writer.

He did not mention that, last fall, he was recognized with one of the highest honors in journalism, a 2008 National Magazine Award for his biting commentary.

ATTENTION: Classes of ’97, ’98, and ’99 our nonessential student records — that’s everything except your official transcript — will be destroyed this summer, unless you contact Registrar Sue Sauer. The records contain teacher comments, application materials, and other information.

If you graduated from CA during 1997, 1998, or 1999 (or withdrew from one of those classes) and want your records, please contact the Registrar’s Office no later than July 10 at sue_sauer@ concordacademy.org or (978) 402-2274. More recent alumnae/i also can request their records, which will be destroyed seven to ten years after graduation.

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

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Photos by Alison Merrill ’09

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Students Raise $ for Financial Aid

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interfest, CA’s annual student-run carnival, warmed up a wintry Saturday in late January with games, contests, a talent show, and other activities sponsored by thirty-three campus clubs and organizations. The event, organized by the All-School Council, raised thousands of dollars in support of CA’s financial aid program.

A Critical Look Inward

arlier this year, CA received its decennial reaccreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). After a yearlong, in-depth self-assessment by the CA community, the process culminated with a visit—and report—by a team comprising faculty and staff from peer schools.

Every CA faculty member and about three-quarters of the staff served on committees that analyzed the fifteen standards used by NEASC to assess schools. Directed by Dean of Faculty Peter Laipson, the self-assessment was informed by committee members’ research, discussion at committee meetings, and responses to a detailed questionnaire emailed to students, faculty, staff, parents, and recent alumnae/i.

Each committee crafted a report on their assigned standard; these were eventually synthesized into a full report to NEASC that outlined the strengths and weaknesses of almost every aspect of school life at CA. The NEASC panel included representatives from Brunswick, Buckingham Browne & Nichols, Dana Hall, Groton, Pomfret, St. George’s, St. Paul’s, Tilton, and Westminster schools. Based on the introduction to the NEASC report, the panel seemed to grasp CA’s unique ethos:

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“Walking towards Chapel on Tuesday morning, the visiting committee could quite literally sense the unique and joyful spirit of Concord Academy . . . In that wonderful historic building, decorated with ribbons and signs of support, there followed a wonderful, engaging, funny, and intelligent chapel talk, one that was honest, real, and clearly representative of the vibrant life of CA . . . there were innumerable other instances noted by the team of the remarkable combination of creativity, intelligence, and joy that permeates the school.

From conversations with faculty, to students at meals, to the board of trustees, the mission of the school is ever present and very real. There is energy that fairly crackles all over campus, and students and teachers alike seem happy, engaged, and excited about their work together . . . Concord Academy is quite clearly an outstanding school with high academic standards and significant creative energy. Its programs and offerings are wide ranging and the depth of inquiry encouraged by the school is impressive. But by far, it is the unique culture and spirit of the place that distinguishes it from so many other good schools.”

The report went on to respond in detail to the CA selfstudy, analyzing each standard—from governance to residential program, administration to communication, mission to infrastructure. Three categories in particular emerged as strengths in the NEASC assessment, according to Laipson: how well the school lives its mission; the qualifications and commitment of faculty, staff, and administrators; and CA’s commitment to the intellectual development of students.

Laipson noted that, throughout their visit, NEASC committee members saw tangible expressions of the three elements of CA’s mission statement—love of learning, respect for the individual, and common trust. “They thought those who work for the school—from trustees to teachers in the classroom, from house parents and advisors to support staff—were both highly qualified and deeply committed,” he said. “And I think the committee felt that the school takes seriously the nurturing of young people, through everything from a rich and varied academic program to comprehensive financial aid awards that make it possible for students with need to participate fully in the life of the school.”

Three areas were noted in the NEASC report as “acceptable but needs attention”: resources to support the school’s program, programmatic assessment, and resources for the school’s overall institutional needs. Regarding resources, the report said, “While inadequacies and challenges do exist, frugality and the unstinting efforts of the faculty and staff effectively compensate.”

The NEASC committee endorsed the Action Plan contained in the self-study, which addressed areas of the school that need improvement. The Action Plan recommends a comprehensive review of the current schedule; restructuring of the faculty evaluation system; a review of the academic program, including disparities in student and advisee loads among faculty; renovation of facilities, especially houses; an updated technology plan; and increased financial aid.

The visiting committee gave CA’s self-study an “exemplary” rating, recognizing that the school embraced the chance to be self-critical and that CA knows itself well enough to acknowledge points of both pride and vulnerability. “The reaccreditation process was a real benefit to the school,” said Laipson. “It gave us the opportunity to identify areas for future improvement even as it affirmed the many strengths of CA’s overall program and structure.”

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by Gail Friedman

ALUM NAE I PRO FILES BYNANCYSHOHETWEST’84

T H I S

I S S U E

• Lucinda Jewell Class of 1976

• Michael Allio Class of 1982

• Sally Newhall Freestone Class of 1962

• Elizabeth Newbury Class of 1998

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

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Lucinda Jewell Class of 1976

Into the Light

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riting her undergraduate thesis on Virginia Woolf, Lucinda Jewell ’76 felt deeply connected to the British essayist. Both women loved words and could write exhaustively on topics close to their minds and hearts. But not until Jewell was thirty-four did she understand why Woolf resonated so vividly.

Jewell learned that, like Woolf, she had bipolar disorder, a discovery that has gradually reoriented her career from the writing and literature of her early adulthood to its current focus on mental health.

The cofounder and former editor of the Boston Book Review, Jewell is now president of the Massachusetts chapter of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (dbsalliance.org), a national organization dedicated to providing support and education around mental health disorders.

“The last closet anyone wants to come out of is to say they have a mental health condition, because of the stigma involved,” Jewell said.

“But the fact is that all kinds of people who have mental health conditions are contributing to, not detracting from, society. The more that people can neutralize their negative reaction to it, the more the general population will feel comfortable seeking treatment. And that’s important because, especially with all the new clinical options on the horizon, these conditions are increasingly manageable.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, 26 percent of the population lives with a chronic mental health condition. Of those diagnosed bipolar, chemical intervention works for about 30 percent.

“Finding the right drug or combination of drugs is as much alchemy as science,” Jewell said. “Studies show a combination of drug therapy and talk therapy is most effective. The ongoing support aspect, which is a key focus of my role at the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, adds another layer of structure. I use the word ‘procovery’ rather than recovery because many of these people are finding their way to a place of wellness they have not been to before, rather than returning to a previous state of health.”

Jewell regulates her own mental health through a combination of medication, therapy, exercise, meditation, and spirituality. Medication enables Jewell, like many people with bipolar disorder, to be highly functioning. But she concedes a down side: unmedicated, she regularly experienced hypergraphia, the ability to leverage spurts of creativity into enormous amounts of written text. “This isn’t true for everyone with

“The fact is that all kinds of people who have mental health conditions are contributing to, not detracting from, society.”

bipolar disorder, but I have found that my desire to write is not as great when I’m medicated,” she said. “My skill sets are still there, but the drive to work is something I have to generate now.”

The loss of hypergraphia notwithstanding, she remains a prolific writer, posting regularly on her blog (mhnow.blogspot.com) and writing a book called Struck by Lightning: Mental Health Conditions and Spiritual Awakening, which she describes as partly personal and partly objective. “I definitely see mental health disorders as one of the avenues the universe provides us to wake up in our lives and become conscious beings,” she said.

What matters most to her as a mental health advocate is that conditions like hers be valued for their multidimensionality and creativity rather than be stigmatized. As Jewell sees it, the media pounces on sensational examples of antisocial behavior, such as the Virginia Tech shootings, whereas, she says, 94 percent of the population affected by mental health disorders maintain stability and function at a high level within society.

For herself, Jewell would change nothing. As she wrote a few years ago in an essay posted on mddaintothelight.org, an online arts publication that Jewell founded for people living with mental health conditions: “The experience of manic-depression has made me who I am—connected me to others and, as my daughter would say, to the ‘piece of God’ in all of us.”

Creativity & the Myth of the Self (A Way of Having Manic-Depression)

by Lucinda Jewell

MY GRANDMOTHER always said I was such a happy baby. I was. All those smiling pictures prove it. They reveal nothing about the circumstances that stimulated my brain to create certain sensations, and made sustaining the happiness pathways more difficult. That I have manic-depression was not distinguished until I was in my thirties, though certainly since ado-

lescence I had had fits of moodiness, melancholy, and occasional moments of such joy as I cannot describe. My family had chalked it up to congenital eccentricity and teenage angst. For me, the world I felt came from Soul and spoke to me powerfully through art, music, and, especially, the literary arts. Writing made sense of my life, brought me great happiness, and created a conversation with my deepest self that is not to be found anywhere else.

As I re-examine my creative journey it is impossible for me to distinguish the peculiarities of manic-depression from a more universal experience of the creative process. Not coincidentally, the poets, and all the great artists, to

whom I was most drawn were ones I later learned shared my “mind” (having depression or manic-depression) — and it was their truths that moved me and revealed most poignantly the nature of life. (Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Handel, Emerson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Whitman, Joseph Conrad, and Virginia Woolf, to name a few.) Do I know what I know, or do I know what I know because of manicdepression’s chemical circuitry?

This is an excerpt. To read Lucinda Jewell’s entire essay, visit mddaintothelight.org, Publications, Issue 1.

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Lucinda Jewell ’76 is fighting to remove the stigma from mental illness.

Michael Allio Class of 1982

“If America is to remain the land of opportunity, we need to fix the public school system.”

Private Sector Tools, Public Sector Challenges

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ichael Allio ’82 admits that dramatically improving America’s public school system is “a whopper of a challenge.” But as a deputy director of strategy for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s U.S. Program, Allio has billions of dollars behind the mission — and he firmly believes his group can make a difference.

“Our premise at the Gates Foundation is that education is the best pathway to opportunity. And that it’s a basic human right,” Allio said.

“If America is to remain the land of opportunity, we need to fix the public school system.”

Essentially, the strategy of Allio and his team is to find and elevate what works, and to help accelerate the adoption of best practices nationwide. “There’s daunting complexity at the local, district, state, and federal levels,” he acknowledged. “We know we need sustainable systemic change, but does it come from the bottom up, from the top down, or both? There are no rule books.”

Referring to this as his “seventh or eighth career,” Allio rattled off some of the steppingstones that led him to the Gates Foundation: “marketing executive for a cosmetics company, actor, writer, truck accessory entrepreneur, management consultant, chairman of a French biotech firm, strategy consultant.” He said that, across all those roles, he developed a sense of “how things work or fail to work, how to move from rhetoric to reality, how to measure progress and course-correct.” Now, he said, “my challenge is to transfer what I’ve learned into a system that needs many more practical hands on deck. I got here because I wanted to shift from enriching a few in the private sector to working for the basic human rights of many.”

Allio traces his experience with good educational practices back to his three years at Concord Academy. “CA has always celebrated innovative teaching,” he said. “I learned more from teachers like Stephen Teichgraeber and 12

Janet Eisendrath than I did at Harvard. CA informed my perspective on what teaching and learning could be, and infused me with a sense of optimism. And what we need if we are to unlock potential in the education sector in America is fierce optimism.”

Optimism notwithstanding, Allio acknowledged that the education system is more complicated than the business world. “It’s fragmented, data-starved, and politicized,” he said. “We do know that the teacher’s role is paramount: teachers have an enormous impact on student achievement. Our strategy focuses in large part on teachers and what happens inside the classroom, and our mission is to accelerate what works. We aim to empower great teachers,

ensure that they are celebrated and rewarded, and find more ways to place and retain the most effective teachers where they are most needed.”

While there are far too many examples of public schools that are failing their students, Allio cites startling examples of success as well. For example, one Rhode Island middle school is “a model of community action, commitment, and student achievement that is pushing the boundaries of what a school can do,” he said. “Wonderful, talented teachers have been recruited and retained in the heart of one of the highest unemployment districts in the state. Walk into that school and you’ll feel it pulsate with life and optimism and focus. You’ll notice a charged silence, when kids are concentrating and gripping every word, and then there will be a burst of electricity as they engage.”

Beyond the success of individual schools, Allio said the Obama administration is reason for optimism. “The stimulus package allocated significant funds to our schools. Much will ideally flow to improving the teaching force, developing better data, establishing common standards, and fostering innovation,” he said. “Currently, there are many more people being drawn toward this work than ever before, including people like me who are applying private-sector toolkits to a public crisis.

“A high school diploma should mean something,” Allio continued. “We believe that every life has equal value, and that public education must arm our children to pursue the American Dream.”

To learn more about Michael Allio’s work, visit gatesfoundation.org/united-states.

Michael Allio ’82 and the Gates Foundation focus on public school reform.

Sally Newhall Freestone Class of 1962

Sharing the Gospel

Sally Newhall Freestone ’62 brings the Bible into her everyday work.

s a child in Sunday school, Sally Newhall Freestone ’62 remembers learning the scripture verse “Suffer the little children to come unto me.”

It bothered her. “Why would Jesus want me to suffer?” she wondered. That thought alone was enough to steer her away from organized religion—both the Episcopalian background of her father and the Quaker values of her mother.

Three decades later, Freestone was still looking for a comfortable way to understand God, though she didn’t necessarily realize it until, as an apprentice potter in Newport, Rhode Island, she started writing verses of scripture on bowls. “I was taking a sabbatical from my teaching career and going through a divorce,” she said. “It was a very unhappy time for me—so unhappy that I came to believe I was unworthy to talk to God. So I started writing messages on pieces of pottery instead, things like “Show me Thy ways” and “Lead me on a level path.”

Her boss didn’t much like that. “Enough of this holy roller stuff,” he told her. “People don’t want to buy that.”

She agreed to return to the studio’s more typical artistic designs, but the scripture-decorated pieces she’d already made needed to go somewhere—so she put them in the shop. To her boss’s amazement, they sold quickly. He told Freestone, “Make more of those holy roller pieces!”

Today, Freestone and her husband run their own pottery business, Freestone Pottery (freestonepottery.com). “This is our ministry as well as our business,” Freestone said of their mission to bring words of scripture to pottery customers. After operating a successful studio in Tennessee for twenty-two years, they moved back to Rhode Island last year and are reestablishing themselves in a smaller space—down from the 2,000square-foot Tennessee studio to a 400-square-foot space in a town whose zoning does not allow them to operate a storefront. Sales are over the Internet for the time being, and by word of mouth to their longtime customers in the South.

“I’ve always loved clay,” Freestone said. “As a child in Pennsylva-

nia, I would find clay in the streambeds near my house. At Concord Academy, I studied art with George Mercer, who had a huge influence on my work and on my soul. There was no pottery program at that time though, just sculpture.”

A few years ago, Freestone furthered her connection with CA by creating a pair of sconces for the Chapel, which hang in the balcony. “I have a special feeling about light, which is the Quakers’ favorite religious symbol,” she said. “The way the light comes through the windows in the Chapel, through that bubbly old glass, is very meaningful to me. The carving in the Chapel [from Corinthians] was done before my time at CA, but it is a marvelous piece of scripture. Making the sconces was a way of adding to the presence of the carving in my own way.”

Freestone remembers that, to begin chapel, Headmistress Betty Hall often recited this prayer: “Lord, grant that as we come to Thee through the crowded ways of life, we may be still and know that Thou art God.” These days, when she worships in the silence of a Friends meeting or as she throws pots, she thinks of those words.

In her current work, Freestone is careful to focus on the comforting nature of scripture, and to help make sure no child misunderstands the Bible, as she did, or becomes frightened by its words. “We are very careful to use a modern translation so that children can feel God is someone they can be friends with, not someone who will make them suffer,” she said. “We avoid the hellfire-and-damnation language.

Essentially, our mission is to give back to the world a little bit of its heart, so lost in this age of turbulence and change.”

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Elizabeth Newbury Class of 1998

Elizabeth Newbury ’98, with a baby she helped deliver. Newbury recently attended the dedication of the Aloian House living room in honor of her great-grandmother, Anne Chamberlin, a CA founder.

Birth Rites

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lizabeth Newbury ’98 first thought about becoming a midwife while interning with disabled people in Tanzania. Later, as a nurse, she worked at a birthing center ten miles from the Mexican border in Texas, delivering many babies in their homes, far from a hospital.

Converting strong principles into action may be written into Newbury’s genetic code. Her great-grandmother, Anne Chamberlin, was one of Concord Academy’s founders, and her grandmother, Anne Chamberlin Newbury ’29, has been a strong supporter of the school. Newbury herself has made a career out of the heartfelt wish to improve the health of the impoverished in the U.S. and beyond.

Raised by professors who specialized in central African politics, Newbury spent a few years in Africa as a child. But the trip she took following freshman year in college solidified her commitment to become a women’s health practitioner. “I spent six months as an intern for an organization in Tanzania that worked with people with disabilities,” Newbury said. “There, I started becoming interested in midwifery, after meeting a midwife who was managing a program for women and children. She and I looked at the ways midwives could affect people’s health beyond hands-on clinical care.”

Newbury returned to the U.S. to earn a bachelor’s degree in government from Smith, then entered an accelerated nursing program at Columbia. Her commitment to aiding the impoverished led her to post-Katrina New Orleans, where she volunteered at an ad hoc clinic, handling the medical needs of rescue workers and residents.

After a month in New Orleans, Newbury took a six-month position at a birthing center in Texas. Working near the Mexican border, she became fluent in Spanish, which helped her land her current job at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Chicago, where her patients are mostly Latina or 14

African American. “My work in Texas, which often involved home births, made me aware of how much I didn’t know,” she said, explaining her decision to switch from a low-intervention birth setting to a modern hospital. “When I was on call, I’d stay up all night worrying about what might be coming in and whether I was qualified to deal with it.”

Still, Newbury says her experience in Texas gave her the professional confidence and acumen that will help if she eventually realizes her dream of returning to Africa or another developing area to work in health care. Currently, Newbury divides her time between the hospital, where her responsibilities involve triage, emergency consultation, and labor and delivery care, and the clinic, where she sees patients for prenatal care, contraceptive counseling, annual check-ups, and health complaints ranging from sexually transmitted diseases to backaches.

“I practice midwifery, which focuses on a holistic approach to women’s health,” Newbury explained. “We don’t just look at a symptom or a disease: we take an overview of the woman, her family, her situation. My role is medical, but it’s mainly about education.”

She especially appreciates the chance to teach women about their bodies and how to care for themselves, physically and emotionally.

“When young women come in for birth control counseling, I talk to them about respect in relationships,” she said. “At prenatal visits, I check the baby’s development but also talk to the mother about parenting and what her expectations are. We talk about how to be a successful parent. Those conversations are the most satisfying part of my job.”

Elizabeth Newbury ’98 wrote the following after a home birth in Texas, in 2006. She said she still thinks of this birth “when I need to remind myself that what I do is worthwhile and meaningful.”

LAST NIGHT I attended the most beautiful birth. Most births are awesome and amazing, but this one was extra special. The laboring woman was transcendently beautiful, and utterly intuitive about what her body needed to do. During prenatal visits we’d talked a lot about how much her family disapproved of her having an out of hospital birth, and when labor started she almost ended up going to the hospital, but called us at the last minute instead. Despite those doubting voices in her head she labored like a pro, spending a lot of time in the birthing tub.

She overcame big mental barriers to listen only to her body, and everything worked as it was supposed to (as it usually does with young healthy women). She gave birth standing up, easing the crowning head into her own hands, and stood for several minutes after the birth, holding her beautiful baby boy, still attached to her by his nice thick curly cord.

The baby was perfectly pink really quickly and extraordinarily clean for a newborn, and the new dad was wonderfully tender and strong and nervous and excited all at once. His hands shook the first time he held his son.

It was a birth that I didn’t really need to be there for — it would have happened that way whether or not I’d been present. The director of the birth center says that those births are nice and all, but we went to school to learn how to handle the tough stuff. Still, I feel so privileged to have witnessed it, to be privy to the woman’s power and the joy of the parents falling in love with their son.

Tim Morse

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ists of accomplishments and timelines capture events and facts, but leaders often have their greatest impact in quiet, unrecorded moments. In his nine years as head of school at Concord Academy, Jake Dresden has emerged as a master of the quiet moment. He is known for his willingness to listen, his calm attention to what is best for students, and his desire to forge stronger connections between people. Those who have worked closely with Jake speak of those qualities as particularly well suited to a school that builds community one individual at a time.

Jeff Desjarlais, director of CA’s Health and Wellness program, displays on his office wall words from a chapel talk Jake delivered on January 10, 2001, at the opening of his second semester as head of school: A common misconception about independence is that it confers upon us a freedom to follow our own will . . . What we can do individually in a community is bound and described by the needs of the others in the group. Whether we are in a cast of a play, on a team, or part of the faculty and staff, we must all keep in mind that our freedom to choose our way comes as a result of the grace and

Teacher, Mentor, Leader The Dresden Years 2000–09

Desjarlais believes these words hold great meaning for CA students, who are learning about their responsibilities to each other as well as to their individual goals. “Jake’s philosophy of interdependence in a community will stay with me,” he said.

by Lucille Stott ➣

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acceptance of others.

A nonprofit governance expert once gave a workshop for a group of school trustees and made the point, seemingly self-evident but full of wisdom, that “the main thing is the main thing.” We would do our work well, he told us, if we let this precept guide us. Keep in mind what is most important and let that shape our goals. Jake embodies this precept, I believe, and it is what has made him such a remarkable leader for CA. He has understood the school’s most important needs and has possessed the wisdom and commitment to bring about historic progress in meeting them. The purchase of the Arena Farms property and the resulting strengthening of the school’s program, while attracting gifts to the endowment at levels we never dared imagine during my active years on the board, are just two examples of the accomplishments of the Dresden years. CA found the right leader at the right time in Jake Dresden, and the school is much the richer, in every sense, for it.

— Linden Havemeyer Wise ’70

Photos by Tim Morse

Board of Trustees 1976–95, president 1991–95, life trustee

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Jake Dresden created Convocation, now an annual event, in response to the school’s need to gather after 9/11.

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Dean of Students and Community Life David Rost also cited Jake’s “quiet support of community” as the heart of his most lasting contributions to the school. He recalled, in particular, the morning of September 11, 2001, when Jake called at 9:15 a.m., informing him of the terrorist attack on the first tower. “Jake told me he wanted to gather the entire school in the Performing Arts Center at 10:00 a.m. so we could all be together when students heard the news,” said Rost. “As it turned out, it was Jake who informed us all during that meeting that the second tower had been hit.”

Jake asked his staff to set up a phone bank so all students could speak to their parents, with CA adults available for support. “As a parent himself, Jake understood the need for parents to hear their children’s voices and for students to connect personally with their parents,” said Rost. “I’ve always admired the empathy Jake showed and the way he put those feelings into effective action.”

In an eerie coincidence, the following school year began on September 11, 2002, a difficult anniversary for the entire country. Jake felt that everyone in the school would benefit from starting the day together, so he oversaw an opening Convocation that has since become an annual tradition. The all-school gathering now begins the first day of each school year, linking past and present with talks by teachers emeritae/i, alumnae/i, and current student and adult leaders. “Convocation is a perfect chance for new students to join the school and sense the importance of tradition, while getting excited about the possibility the coming year presents,” said Pam Safford, associate head for enrollment and planning.

“It started as a response to a particular event, but the warm community feel of the convocation made us all see what a great way this would be to begin every year.”

If he’d had his druthers, Jake would have gathered the school in the Chapel on 9/11 and for the first Convocation. But the Chapel was too small to hold the entire CA community, and that limitation began to weigh on him. “One of the greatest things Jake has done for this community is take on the task of enlarging and renovating the Chapel,” said

Art Durity

Director of Operations Don Kingman with Jake Dresden, working on the Chapel renovation

In one of his first chapels, Jake played “Hammond Song” by the Roches. I thought I was the only one on campus who knew about these female folk singers with a wicked wit. In one of his last chapels, Jake played a jazzy tune. I knew the singer — Jesse Colin Young of the legendary Youngbloods from the sixties — but not the song. Again, Jake had scooped me with a Jesse Colin Young tune from the eighties. His musical tastes range far and wide. I attribute it to his taste for biking — whether it’s music, Russian history, the Adirondacks, or a good bottle of wine, his indefatigable tire tracks have left their discrete marks.

— Parkman Howe P’07, ’10, English teacher

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CA’s Director of Operations Don Kingman, who worked side by side with Jake on the project. “We had talked about my worry that the building was not equipped to handle the size of today’s school, but it was Jake who put the Chapel number-one on the school’s priority list. It was really important to him that everybody be able to sit comfortably in that space together.” Jake himself talks of the Chapel renovation, which took place from summer 2004 through fall 2005, as one of his proudest accomplishments.

Members of the Class of 2006 were the first to give their chapel talks in the renovated meetinghouse, but the space was also used to rally the school community following Hurricane Katrina. “The fact that we could bring everyone into that space to talk about how the school could respond to that disaster and help victims brought home to us all the importance of the Chapel project,” said Rost. “There is something about that building that says ‘community’ in ways no other CA structure can.”

The Chapel is named for Elizabeth B. Hall, and one of the first things Jake did when he became CA’s ninth head of school was to visit the legendary headmistress, who was responsible for bringing the historic New Hampshire meetinghouse to Concord, board by board, and overseeing its reconstruction on campus. For Jake, who had immersed himself in the school’s archives, Betty Hall was a defining presence in CA history, and he wanted to pay his respects. The visit to Mrs. Hall’s retirement home in Canaan, Connecticut, was more than symbolic. Jake was already looking ahead to the strategic planning he was about to launch, and he knew that the closer he felt to CA’s past, the better equipped he would be to chart its future. “This was five years before Mrs. Hall passed away, and she was in a wheelchair, but the spark was still there,” he recalled. “I’ll always remember that meeting as an important moment for me, a chance to touch tradition.”

Jake admired Mrs. Hall’s strong belief in teaching students the value of service. Among her “Ten Deadly Virtues,” which she carved into wooden plaques that are now displayed in the library, are Citizenship, Responsibility, and Consideration for Others. Jake was determined to continue Mrs. Hall’s commitment to service, and when he arrived at

I will never forget when I first met Jake and sounded him out about his interest in the head of school job at CA. We met in New York, over coffee, and I was instantly convinced that this would be our next head.

As president of CA’s Board of Trustees, my task was to reel in this big fish from the city and convince him that Concord Academy would be the perfect next step for him and for his lovely wife Pat. When Jake and Pat toured the campus, everyone loved them. They were articulate, sophisticated, passionate about education, and lively, and both had a wonderful sense of humor.

Everyone agreed it was a great match. Nine years later, I am proud to have been part of that process. Because of Jake’s extraordinary leadership and calm demeanor, CA has enjoyed a long stretch of stability and steady innovation. The school is stronger and more cohesive as a result of his tenure, and I, for one, feel lucky that we succeeded in bringing him to CA. — Marion Freeman ’69

CA he had already become involved with Global Connections, a program to promote international awareness among independent school leaders. In an early chapel talk, Jake explained that he was drawn to Global Connections’ core values, which include helping leaders “explore and celebrate difference, develop and promote global consciousness, build cross-cultural partnerships, [and] serve and share in order to build community.”

During the past nine years, Jake has acted on these values by spearheading a four-year exchange program with Brighton College in England, inviting two students displaced by Hurricane Katrina to study at CA, supporting five service trips outside of Massachusetts, and helping bring service participation by both students and adults to a record level. “It has always been my dream that every high school student have the experience of working for a time outside the country,” said Jake. “I haven’t been able to make that happen, but it has been great to see so many CA students seeking ways to make a tangible difference, here in the Boston area and beyond. When I went to Louisiana with the CA service group last June, I was proud of the ways students stepped up to do whatever was needed. I think many of them discovered leadership qualities they didn’t know they had.”

Jake’s focus on connecting people has driven even decisions involving campus improvements and acquisitions, said CA’s Chief Financial Officer Judi Seldin. The 2002 renovation of Munroe House,

Tim Morse

Board of Trustees 1986–97, president 1998–2002, life trustee

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Kem Morehead

Kem Morehead

Gianna Drew

Courtesy of Camp Coastal

CA’s service trip to Kiln, MS (above); Jake Dresden and students in New Orleans (lower right)

One of my first encounters with Jake was early in his tenure when I approached him as a parent with an opinion about a decision he had made with respect to diversity efforts at CA. I was quite blunt with Jake about how I thought the decision was a mistake. Jake listened intently, nondefensively, and with a caring and respectful manner. While Jake did not change his decision after our conversation (I did not expect him to), he saw our conversation as an opportunity for a deeper relationship and the nurturing of common trust. Not long after our conversation, Jake thus invited me to offer leadership at the trustee level in the school’s diversity efforts. Over our years of working together, I have found Jake to be a passionate advocate for the school’s commitment to community and equity. It takes a great person to see criticism as an opportunity to accomplish something better for all. Jake is just that kind of man. Concord Academy’s mission of a “community enriched by a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives” has been well served by him.

Lucille Stott is an English teacher and writer in CA’s Advancement Office.

— Rev. Ian T. Douglas P’05, ’07, ’10, Board of Trustees 2005–present

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the property across the street from campus that was purchased at the end of Thomas E. Wilcox’s headship, created apartments that brought six new adult families onto campus. In 2004, the school purchased the property adjacent to Munroe—Belknap House—which allowed three additional families to become campus residents.

Sarah Jennings, a campus resident with her husband, house affiliate and Director of College Counseling Peter Jennings, said Jake helps bring a family feeling to campus. “It speaks to his style—an unobtrusive, yet kind manner of neighborliness—that Jake chooses to turn from work, or to stop short on a campus walkway to address me and my kids,” she said. “We have absolutely nothing to offer him, yet he always shows us that he values us—no matter what storms may be happening at his desk.”

The recent purchase of Arena Farms, which added 13.6 acres to campus, is another way Jake has contributed to CA’s sense of community. “When we are able to develop that land and use it for fields, then our kids—and the fans who come out to watch them play—won’t have to be spread around the town of Concord any longer, on borrowed fields,” said Seldin. “There will be a much greater sense of togetherness, which will contribute significantly to the spirit of the school.” Seldin also pointed out that the eventual development of Arena Farms will allow the Main Street campus to flourish in new ways, with more space for the arts and classrooms. “CA has always been about people, not buildings,” she said, “and I see the purchase of Arena Farms as a great way to support people.” That campus addition, like all of Jake’s achievements, small and large, was accomplished without fanfare.

In a 2005 chapel talk, Jake expressed the following hope for the school year that was about to begin: “I wish for all of you a year in which you try new things, break old habits that no longer work, and see yourself through the mirror of knowing others.” They were quiet words in a quiet moment, and they became emblematic of a head who will be remembered for numerous, enduring contributions to the CA community.

Ashley Taylor

A Jewel Worth a Kingdom

by Wanda Holland Greene

xactly five words spilled from his lips.

“No, you are not ready.”

Tucking my disappointment behind a halfsmile, I stared into Jake’s eyes. I knew him to be a man of good sense, immeasurable integrity, and absolute honesty, and I was accustomed to the way he used both words and silence to convey a message. Therefore, I waited patiently for his wisdom.

“You need more stories, Wanda. You need time to develop a narrative about leading and transforming the school as a whole. Leading a division is an incredibly valuable experience, but being an agent of institutional change is more powerful.”

Perhaps Jake could see me wrestling with his candor, because he flashed me a look that reminded me of his affection and respect for me.

As I steadied myself in my chair on wheels, he sliced the air with a crisp and final sentence.

“Kiddo, you need to wait.”

The year was 2004, and my dear friend and mentor Jake Dresden had traveled from Concord to Brookline to meet with me. I had mentioned to him in passing that I was seriously considering entering a national search for a head of school job, and I wanted his advice about my readiness for the position, the match between me and the school in question, and the rigors of the interviewing process. Without hesitation he agreed to get together in person, not because I had been a CA trustee for the past four years, but because he and I had been friends for the past ten. My connection to Jake was seeded and cultivated in New York City in the 1990s, when he was the headmaster at the Collegiate School, and I was a young teacher at the Chapin School. (Thus, he can get away with calling me “Kiddo.”) I often reflect upon that critical moment in my Brookline office when I asked my friend, “Am I ready to be a head of school?”—and he said no. It was the single most important day in my professional life. In true Quaker style, Jake ministered to me

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by giving me the gift of simple truth, which inspired an on-the-spot revision of my life’s master plan. I postponed the idea of becoming a head of school, took on an extraordinary leadership opportunity as an assistant head of school, and decided to start a family.

Fast-forward to 2009: I have completed an eight-year tenure as a CA trustee, I am greatly enjoying my first year as a head of school in San Francisco, and my husband and I are the shamelessly proud parents of two little boys. Indeed, Jake gave me his blessing when I entered the head of school search process in 2007 (this time we met midway at a restaurant in Wellesley), and he served as one of my primary references. I adore and admire Jake because he has always deftly combined sense and humility in our relationship; he has shared his knowledge freely, yet

without officiousness or condescension. To me, he has always embodied William Penn’s poignant words: “a true friend . . . advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.” Our relationship is special and enduring, and I am doubly blessed to count Jake as my colleague and friend. Truth, compassionate support, respect for differences, moral clarity, and loyalty are the hallmarks of friendship with Jake. In a wonderful way, these are the same qualities that have underpinned his distinguished career as an educator and leader.

I cannot help but think that Jake’s many years as a student and educator in Philadelphia, a city planned and developed under the direction of pacifist Quaker William Penn, influenced his educational philosophy and approach to school

Natalie Matus

Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom. —William Penn

Wanda Holland Greene and Jake Dresden, at a recent San Francisco reception in Jake’s honor

What I have most valued in Jake is how he has helped put in perspective the challenges that come with being a dean. He has been consistently supportive of my work and always willing to offer his perspective—or play

Sound Advice

by Claire Moriarty ’05

devil's advocate—as we consider how to move ahead on curricular issues.

— John Drew, academic dean

couple months ago, I was sitting in my current academic advisor’s office at Bowdoin discussing my postgraduate plans. During our meeting, I mentioned how my advisor throughout high school—Mr. Dresden—always encouraged me to continue studying and traveling until I decide to settle down.

And that is just what I plan on doing.

Mr. Dresden was more than an academic advisor to me.

During our weekly lunch meetings, he showed a genuine interest in my life as a whole. He challenged me to take a wide range of courses, from Modern Irish Literature to Advanced Environmental Studies, and to engage in numerous extracurricular activities, such as field hockey and the Peer Mentor program. Furthermore, Mr. Dresden told me never to settle for anything, encouraging me to work harder and harder; in the process, he boosted my self-confidence. He pushed me to become a stronger, more articulate student—and I did (at least in part because I never wanted to disappoint him). In some ways, despite my being a day student, he began to factor into my life as a third parent.

Rather than directing my decision-making, Mr. Dresden guided me toward a decision, ultimately letting me reach one on my own. He understood that I was strong-headed, often set on accomplishing whatever it was I set out to do, despite its impracticality. In particular, I remember receiving multiple phone calls from Mr. Dresden while studying at the High Mountain Institute in Colorado during the spring semester of my junior year—despite the fact that I had an advisor while there. He called to check in, to see how my academic and social lives were going, and to discuss my course registration for senior year.

While I was initially mortified that the head of school had my cell phone number, I soon recognized how lucky I was to have an advisor—let alone the head of school—who was so genuinely concerned with my well-being on multiple levels. These days, as I look toward my future, I wish he still had my phone number. I never want to give up his sound advice.

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Wanda Holland Greene is head of the Hamlin School in San Francisco. She served on Concord Academy’s Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2008.

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leadership. I would bet that Jake believes that every institution should be known for its commitment to sisterly and brotherly love. In fact, I know that it is the joy of being connected to wonderful people that has provided the inspiration for his work in independent schools. Jake has never forgotten the importance of building diverse and inclusive communities, and he has long believed in the primacy of the student-teacher relationship. I have often marveled at his steadfast commitment to advising and teaching while being a head of school. Undoubtedly, alumnae/i from William Penn Charter, Abington Friends, Collegiate, and CA recall with fondness and gratitude his advocacy and attentiveness, his appreciation of their idealism and humor, his fairness as a decision-maker, and his deep desire that they use their heads, hearts, and hands to improve the world. We have all heard the sound of his voice, orally and in writing, urging students to resist complacency and to harness their talents and energy to solve the world’s problems. For nine years, CA has listened intently to Jake’s words when wars, genocide, natural disasters, terrorism, and economic crises have bred uncertainty, and the community has been reassured by his evenness, insights, and faith in humanity.

CA now bids farewell to a jewel of a man, cut in the Netherlands, his birthplace, and polished to “double luster” in two Quaker schools in Pennsylvania and in a New York City school founded for the children of Dutch colonists. Jake moved from Manhattan to Main Street, bringing to CA the depth and strength of his experiences as a spouse, a father, a teacher, and a leader. No one can deny that the Dresden years have been transformative ones for CA: a powerful and pithy mission statement, a strengthened commitment to boarding life, an innovative model for diversity leadership, a bevy of talented teachers and administrators, a renovated Chapel, and an expanded physical footprint are among the abundant fruits of his labor. Dank je wel, Jake, for being an able yet humble man, and for guiding individuals and institutions on their paths toward excellence.

Tim Morse

Parting Thoughts Q&A with Jake Dresden

Name one favorite memory from your years at CA. Seeing the renovated Chapel completed so well and knowing how much it means to the school culture.

What has been most satisfying?

Being in a school that truly understands how teenagers learn and grow up well.

What will you miss most?

My colleagues on the faculty and staff and the support of trustees.

What do you think is the most important thing you’ve learned here?

I have learned to trust my judgment and that good decisions usually result from many working together.

What has made you laugh?

Kids doing funny things, colleagues’ teasing, and Pat always holding my feet to the fire!

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

What do you hope for the school in its next phase?

Continued smart students, devoted teachers, able staff members, and wise trustees guiding the head of school.

I also want to see Arena Farms become fields and courts so I can appreciate my small part in making that happen for CA. What do you hope people will remember about your tenure?

That I was a decent man, that I always held the school’s mission as my guide, and that the school thrived during my time.

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Eric Berger ’01 and Jake Dresden in 2000; this photo ran on the cover of the Fall 2000 Concord Academy magazine.

The Tao of Jake

truly crazy to those of us at CA. Although CA’s informal dress code (“underwear is not outerwear”) was likely to remain untouched, it was difficult to tell how the school would evolve in the coming years.

As seniors, we wanted our school’s growth over the next decade to be rooted in its history and not a departure from it. We were proud of our community and protective of its values—a commitment to the highest standards of academics, an appreciation for the arts, a strong respect for diversity, and an understanding that we were both students of the school and citizens in our community. We wanted Jake to embrace these values and build upon them. With thoughtfulness, patience, and a steady hand, he did just that.

During the fall of Jake’s first year at CA, I asked him to work with me on an independent study on leadership. While fancy in name, it was really an opportunity to have breakfast with him every few weeks, discuss an interesting book, and learn about his approach to the subject. I didn’t have the stomach to read one of Jake’s favorite Russian authors, so we began with the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu (a more palatable one hundred pages). In many ways, the text was a blueprint for Jake’s tenure: In dwelling, be close to the land.

In meditation, delve deep into the heart.

In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.

In speech, be true.

In work, be competent.

In action, be careful of your timing.

by Eric M. Berger ’01

ake Dresden was appointed the ninth head of school at the beginning of my senior year—leaving just one year for the Class of 2001 to welcome Jake to the school, although in retrospect, “welcome” may not be the right word.

To Jake, it must have felt like the scene from Meet the Parents when Ben Stiller learns about the circle of trust from Robert DeNiro, the CIA operative/father-in-law.

We were all probably as nervous as he was.

Many wondered, “Would he be Jake or Mr. Dresden? Would CA change Jake, or would Jake change CA?” Many were anxious that a headmaster from an all-boys school in Manhattan might act too swiftly or seek change too dramatically. His former school had a dress code, and any dress code (let alone a tie and jacket) seemed

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Jake became the leader of CA—the institution and the community. More than that, he became a valued adviser and friend to me personally.

While I can point to many occasions when we have connected in the years since I graduated, I remember most vividly a moment nearly five years ago, when I called him during a difficult period for my family. More than his specific words, I remember his calm demeanor, steadiness, and patience. These qualities—coupled with his penetrating insights—ultimately formed the model that I have strived to follow and continue to emulate, even today. Like so many others, I am proud and thankful to count Jake as a friend, teacher, and mentor.

Tara Bradley

by Peter Laipson

faculty, staff, and especially students.

The reason Jake is solicitous of those who work and study at the school is clear: by temperament as well as by experience, he is first and foremost a teacher. Close work with students has always been at the center of his professional life.

It is no surprise that Jake has taught every year since coming to CA. In fact, so reluctant was he to give up teaching that when the demands of travel made it impossible to meet students during the regular schedule, he began offering his courses as departmental studies. Even with his myriad responsibilities as head of school, Jake’s heart has never been far from the classroom.

Jake’s devotion to teaching has been a gift to his students. But more than that, it has sustained what is most precious about Concord Academy: the critical role of teaching in the life of the school. Jake has consistently honored the relationships between adults and kids that teaching makes possible, whether in classes, in houses, or on the playing field; he has celebrated adults’ connections with students, both intellectual and personal. Jake has served as a teacher for faculty and staff as well. A strong believer in professional development, he has advocated for adults

Peter Laipson is Concord Academy’s dean of faculty.

Tim Morse

ast semester, my first as dean of faculty, a colleague and I met with Jake to discuss a parent who sought the school’s support in limiting her child’s athletic activities. The student’s academic career had been rocky, and sports had offered both satisfaction and success. The discussion was protracted and, a little frustrated, I finally proposed that we accede to the mother’s request. Jake listened carefully as I made my case, was silent a moment, then asked one question: “Is that the best thing for the child?” I hesitated. He smiled wryly. And the three of us resumed talking about other ways to help this student and parent.

The question of what is best for individuals, students and adults alike, is one that Jake has asked consistently since he arrived nine years ago. While the tangible achievements of Jake’s headship are impressive—the renovated Chapel, the growth of the endowment, the expansion of the campus—for those who work at CA, Jake’s concern for each member of the community will be the most enduring aspect of his legacy. While never losing sight of the “forest” of institutional priorities, Jake has remained attentive to the individual “trees” of CA’s human landscape—

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seeking new challenges at CA and has been an enthusiastic supporter of those who have pursued opportunities at other institutions.

Perhaps a head of school’s greatest challenge is balancing the needs of the school with the wishes of its people. Yet it is precisely when the competing demands of institution and individual have seemed most at odds that Jake’s sensibility as a teacher has been most evident. What always seems to guide him is an unerring sense of how people can learn best. I remember a wrenching case some years ago in which Jake needed to decide whether to approve the Discipline Committee’s recommendation to dismiss a senior. After listening carefully to the committee’s explanation and discussing its conclusions with each member, he accepted the decision. On the subsequent occasions he has reflected on that moment, I have always been struck by the implicit questions that informed his choice.

What was to be learned by this course of action, not only by this student but by the student body as a whole? To what extent was the punishment instruction for the future rather than simply retribution for an infraction? What, in short, could this decision teach?

The end of Jake’s tenure at CA marks the departure of the man who has led the school for the last nine years and helped define its shape, literally as well as figuratively, for future generations. But just as important, it marks the departure of a superb and dedicated teacher— and it is that teacher whom all of us at CA will miss the most.

Jake’s steady, thoughtful, and supportive guidance provided fertile ground on which CA’s performing arts programs could strengthen and grow. Thanks to his understanding of the deep educational and personal value of engagement with music, CA’s music program has experienced a renaissance. This momentum for growth and change, begun with Jake’s support, will sustain the program for years to come. Jake protected our vital arts programs, assuring that young people and our entire CA community would have the life-changing experiences only art can provide.

— Amy Spencer P’13, Performing Arts Department Head

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The Heart of a Teacher

Art Durity

A Steady Voice

by Ellen Condliffe Lagemann ’63

Tim Morse

s I thought about what made Jake Dresden such an effective head of school at Concord Academy over these past nine years, the word that kept popping into my mind was “care.” Care is more than a kindly, affectionate, protective quality.

Jake Dresden and Ellen Condliffe Lagemann ’63 In the sense that I mean it, care requires straight thinking and deliberate action, along with strong stewardship for established values and practices and openness to what is new and different. Care necessitates prudence, patience, intentionality, attentiveness, thought, wisdom, and very hard work.

When he took the helm at Concord Academy, one of the first things Jake did was initiate the tightening of the school’s mission statement, which would continue to capture the aspirations to excellence and equity that have always been held in balance at CA. The school’s mission is grounded in a belief that communities are bound by common purpose and mutual respect—as the revised mission statement puts it, by love of learning and common trust. In chapel addresses, communications to parents and alumnae/i, comments to the Board of Trustees, and everyday exchanges, Jake often quoted the mission statement. When he did so, he was not reciting a mantra taken on with the role of head of school. He was talking about the values that have animated his own life and career.

He was talking about what drew him to our school and what has drawn so many of us to him. In the care Jake has taken to keep our mission alive and thriving, one can see the authentic affinity between person and place that has inspired Jake’s leadership As head of Concord Academy, Jake’s daily life was demanding.

His schedule bulged with meetings and appointments, talks to give, calls to return, and problems to understand and resolve. Jake approached every conversation eager to listen and learn, and then, as needed, to take action. He is a charismatic listener. He takes whatever time is needed to address all that confronts him in a day or over a year. His evident enthusiasm for what he does enabled Jake to sustain all the talented people he gathered to work around him.

I could review a long list of events that have captured the keen insight and deep strength Jake has brought to Concord Academy.

But his steady, consistent, ever-present voice may have been most important. It is that voice and the care it always embodied that has made Concord an even better school at the end of Jake’s tenure than it was at the beginning. Jake has been a steward and a builder, a person who sustained what we cherished and enlarged our ambitions. All of us who love Concord Academy owe him a debt of very deep gratitude.

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CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

Jake Dresden has been just what CA needed, a perfect leader in changing times, although he would be a great leader no matter what. Gentle but firm, a man of reason and judgment, a man of kindness, with an appealing boyishness and humor, humility and strength. Just right for Concord Academy.

Ellen Condliffe Lagemann ’63 has been president of Concord Academy’s Board of Trustees since 2006 and has served on the board since 2004.

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— Fay Lampert Shutzer ’65, Board of Trustees 2005–present

Tim Morse

Jake always impresses me with his calm demeanor, his sharp intellect, his principled approach to problems, and his depth of understanding of people.

Working with him on CA Parents’ matters has been a complete pleasure, and I’m grateful for all I’ve learned from the experience.

Art Durity

— Erin Pastuszenski P’10, President, CA Parents

The Chapel, Personified

henever I walk into the Chapel, I think not only about special shared CA moments, about my children’s chapel talks, and about the artful and meticulous renovation. I also think about Jake.

When I took over as president of the Board of Trustees in 2002, I discussed with fellow board officer John Moriarty p’02, ’05, ’07 the importance of expanding and renovating the Chapel. It was already clear that one of the values most important to Jake was inclusiveness.

He thought CA deserved a place where the whole community could gather, and back then the Chapel accommodated only 275 people, even though there were 343 students, plus faculty and staff. With Jake’s new leadership and with John’s expertise, maybe it was time to tackle this important goal.

The need may have been clear, but we faced a problem: the building was the most beloved icon on campus. It was the Elizabeth B. Hall Chapel—the one Mrs. Hall bought in New Hampshire and rebuilt with her students and her own hands. With good reason, Jake feared that alumnae/i and others would consider the building too sacred to change.

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How he sold—or should I say, brought forward—the idea says a lot about Jake. He never pushed it on anyone. He raised the issue methodically, through a process whereby the benefits became so apparent that the answer became obvious. In the end, and to my great relief, the initiative was not controversial. Only Jake could manage that. His measured inclusiveness, his determination to hear everyone’s voice, and his belief that each voice has equal worth characterized the Chapel project.

The design solution was also brilliant, and a true reflection of our head of school. The enlarged chapel is modest, true to itself, spiritual, and never overwhelms the human dimension—traits that also describe Jake.

The Chapel renovation is indicative of other projects and challenges Jake confronted.

As a leader Jake has been centered, steady, comfortable with himself, and balanced. That’s why people trust him. During my tenure, his response to 9/11 and to Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that balance. He managed to convey many important lessons to students in the wake of these national catastrophes—lessons about the value of helping others, about priori-

ties, about looking outward, and, perhaps most important, about considering problems with calm and patience and with a respect for the wisdom of the community.

Jake is a perfect example of what author Jim Collins calls a “Level 5 leader”—someone in whom humility couples with resolve, someone more likely to give others credit but to accept blame himself. Collins says the most effective leaders are modest and care more about the performance of their company or institution than about their own glory. That sounds a lot like Jake.

Jake Dresden’s style of management inspires both trust and affection. He has brought out the best in many people at CA—including board members like me.

Henry Becton P ’96, ’02 was president of Concord Academy’s Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2006 and served on the board from 1993 to 2006.

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by Henry Becton P ’96, ’02

2000 Jacob A. Dresden installed as head of school

He Loved This School.

We Love Him Back.

2001 Learning Center established 2001 Jake Dresden taught economics in the spring and Russian history in the fall; he continued to teach throughout his CA career.

by David Michaelis ’75

2002 Munroe House dedicated, providing additional residential space for campus families 2002 Board of Trustees approved new strategic plan, a blueprint reflecting the vision of the board and Jake Dresden 2002 Inaugural Convocation, now an annual tradition; inspired by Jake Dresden’s desire to gather the entire community on the anniversary of 9/11 2003 First of four annual exchanges with Brighton College in England, evidence of Jake Dresden’s desire to offer students international experiences

During the late winter and spring of 2009, hundreds from Concord Academy’s extended family feted departing Head of School Jake Dresden at receptions in New York City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Concord. Several people delivered remarks in Jake’s honor. Following are the words of David Michaelis ’75 at the New York reception on March 5.

ake Dresden arrived at Concord on the first of July, nine years ago. He has been Concord’s ninth head of school, and these nine years have seen an Augustan age of expansion on the banks of the Sudbury.

Jake expanded the Chapel, going from what was essentially a horse and carriage to a vast and beautiful hot air balloon. He bought Belknap House and led the effort to buy Arena Farms, adding 13.6 acres, which is to CA’s 39-acre campus what the Louisiana Purchase was to the United States. It made us a nation, coast to coast, Main Street to Route 2.

Jake introduced new traditions, such as Convocation at the opening of each school year, in which all members of the school community gather to celebrate CA and to hear talks by faculty emeritae/i. And he hon-

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2004 Belknap House purchased for offices and faculty and staff residences 2004 Renovated and expanded Elizabeth B. Hall Chapel reopened, in October 2005 The CA community raised more than $15,000 for Hurricane Katrina relief.

2005 Board approved CA visual identity, depicting a Chapel window

ored Concord’s greatest asset—its faculty—by finding every dollar he could to compensate their commitment to excellence and distinction.

The Big Thing that Jake got right was figuring out whom he had to educate and what they had to learn. The head of the school has to teach the school about itself and the world. He has to explain: the faculty to the parents, the boarders to the day students, the alumnae/i to the development office. And he has to “borrow, beg, and steal” —and do a Ringling Brothers job of juggling—to explain the budget to the trustees.

Each day, most importantly, he has to help CA students understand themselves and each other through trust. And on days of great joy and new beginnings—Commencement, Convocation—and on days of horrible, unexpected loss and tragedy, he even has to explain life and death.

He has to keep telling us the story of us as a community. You don’t go to school alone. And you don’t go for four years only—not to CA. School is communal. School is for life—Concord is. No matter how far each of us feels from the person we were then, no matter how distant from that time or that place, some part of Concord comes into our thinking every couple of days.

I’m not talking about nostalgia—or about find-

2006 First student exchange with a school in France, a program that continues today

Tara Bradley

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

2006 Jake Dresden taught first of two “Stuff” classes, continuing the tradition of former Headmistress Elizabeth B. Hall.

Alex Rosen ‘04 and David Lloyd ‘04 with Jake Dresden, at the San Francisco reception

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Former roommates Julia Baumgarten Foster ’86 (and Logan), Angelique Yen Marsden ’86, and Pam Pearl ’86, with Carol Shoudt, their CA house parent, in Los Angeles

Karen Culbert

2006 Fiftieth anniversary of Elizabeth B. Hall Chapel, celebrated at Reunion Weekend 2006 Tenth anniversary of Summer Stages Dance 2007 Community and Equity Office formed, establishing a new model for diversity leadership

Peter Zimble ’86, who hosted the Los Angeles reception at his home, with Tanya and Derek Reineman ’85

2007 Property known as Arena Farms purchased in August, expanding the campus by 13.6 acres

George Lange Photography

his red 1965 Triumph convertible out of the garage, puts on his shades, rolls back the roof, and peels out onto Main Street . . . Jake has kept Concord alive in real time, as a real place.

Jake missed the Christmas traditions of my day at Concord. He never got to be our Santa Claus. But in a way, that is exactly who he has turned out to be, each year initiating another bunch of wide-eyed children into the mysteries of putting away childish things . . . and of knowing and being known.

Like Santa, Jake has his elves—his amazingly dedicated staff—and his home at the west end of campus, and his Mrs. Claus, the wonderful and formidable Pat Markle. And he’s making a list—for Annual Giving.

And he’s checking it twice. And he needs your help to fill those stockings.

So Jake Dresden has come to town. And I don’t have to tell you that behind that red suit and that white beard and that bowl full of jelly is a real guy—a real guy who loves what he does and who does it with distinction, decency, and excellence.

Jake Dresden has loved this school. We love him back.

2008 Jake Dresden honored at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York for his commitment to Summer Stages Dance and arts education 2008 Main Street crosswalk significantly improved, concluding a lengthy effort to enhance safety at the crossing

David Michaelis ’75 has served on Concord Academy’s Board of Trustees since 2006.

Photos by Natalie Matus

ing surprisingly un-aged faces on Facebook. I’m talking about culture: about the essential work of art and science, music and literature, politics and math, history and dance, and every medium in the media.

I’m talking about Concord’s culture: Emerson, Thoreau. Madame Miller, and Molière—and Barkus, too. Ron Richardson and The Bald Soprano. Bill Bailey and the Bill of Rights. Madge Evans and the ecology of the entire Eastern seaboard, starting at Crane’s Beach.

John O’Connor and totalitarianism. Janet Eisendrath and the mystery of art. Jose De Jesus, Paul Ness, Mel Scult, Kristin Harman, Peter Laipson . . . I’m talking about an English department of pros—real writers and scholars and actor-directors like Stephen Teichgraeber and Grenville Cuyler and Phil McFarland. I’m talking about Sandra Rosenblum. All these people not only gave us but shared with us a culture that has stood up pretty well to life and time. And in some cases, like Russell Mead’s media department, it was way, way ahead of its time.

Jake Dresden, who grew up a Quaker, is the son of a scholar of ancient languages, a man whose expertise in Sanskrit inspired Jake to honor and trust and share in Concord’s many voices. Jake has actively kept this culture—our culture—alive. And not just in our hearts or minds or on the Web, or even when he gets

Claudio Lilienfeld ’80 at the Washington, DC reception

Harry Gage, Dean of Faculty Peter Laipson, and Barbara Jules Gage ’49, at the Los Angeles reception

2009 Jake Dresden’s final chapel talk, in January; he delivered chapel talks at each semester’s beginning.

2009 CA athletic teams brought the total of championship banners earned during Jake Dresden’s tenure to nineteen, reflecting his commitment to an enhanced athletic program.

2009 Alumnae/i, parents, trustees, faculty, teachers emeritae/i, staff, and friends of CA honored Jake Dresden at receptions in Concord, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC.

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Gabe Greenberg ’98, Ami Boghani ’99, and Phaedra Athanasiou ’99, at the New York reception

2007 Service trip to Kiln, Mississippi, the first of several trips to hurricaneravaged areas

Hard Sell, Easy Decision

by Patricia Hager P ’06, ’08

ver seven years working with Jake, I discussed many job candidates with him.

But one hire was a particularly hard sell— even though she was clearly the most qualified applicant.

It was 2001. Marge Albin had founded our Learning Center, and we realized quickly that she needed a partner—someone with a great deal of experience working strategically with students, faculty, and parents on a wide range of issues about learning. We had recruited one applicant— the former head of the lower school at New York City’s Marymount School, who had demonstrated keen insight into students, their study skills, and their academic needs. She was clearly the best candidate Marge, our colleagues, and I could ever hope for. She was also Pat Dresden, and the obstacle to be managed was Jake.

Knowing his ethical reflexes, I figured Jake might balk at hiring his spouse for a significant post within his own school. I also worried that Pat could be tempted by offers to lead in other Boston schools. So Sandy Stott, then the dean of faculty, and I double-teamed Jake, relying on his vulnerability: he knew a great candidate when he saw one, and he was always determined to bring the very best to CA. I knew we had him when he blushed as we explained the irrefutable case for hiring Pat. He deliberated for a day or two, and then he made the right choice.

As coordinator of study skills, Pat has been a transforming figure in the lives of so many students who use the Learning Center. In moments when students have doubted their abilities, she has made daunting workloads manageable, organized muddled minds, calmed nerves, and restored confidence. Her career teaching elementary school students (and being married to Jake?) made her unflappable; indeed, while she did terrific work with the many students who came by the Learning Center to hone already strong study habits, Pat specialized in assisting struggling kids at their most vulnerable. Her gift has been to offer creative strategies that are truly helpful for a student, and to build enormously productive alliances with kids. Often, when teachers’ best efforts and twenty pages of educational testing seemed insufficient to help a stu-

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

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Photos by Tim Morse

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Pat and Jake Dresden

dent work his or her way out of trouble, the plan became “have student talk with Pat.” Together, Marge and Pat shaped a Learning Center that is a model for other schools. Students are drawn to them both for their warmth, humor, and straight talk. Faculty rely on their understanding of the classroom and the culture of Concord Academy.

Parents trust their wisdom, insight, and devotion to their children.

Whatever seemed important for a student’s growth—a trip to the West Concord Five and Dime, an evening studying with cookies at her kitchen table, reassurance for a stressed parent, a little wise counsel on adolescent romance, version twenty-five of a kid’s study schedule—Pat offered herself generously. And her instinct for well-timed hilarity often saved all of us from the temptation to take ourselves too seriously.

As the former academic dean, I especially savored individual time with Pat because she understood the role of the dean so completely from all her years of school leadership. Whether she was regaling me with the antics of her advisees, cracking a joke about the most recent faculty meeting, or coaching me over and over in my attempt to manage the budget, Pat inspired me, as she has so many at CA. Wherever she may find herself in coming years, it’s a safe bet that Pat will continue to be a talented, imaginative force in the lives of students, and a resource for the many young adults who still want her guidance as they negotiate the world beyond CA. Patty Hager P ’06, ’08 joined Concord Academy in 1992 and was academic dean from 1997 to 2007.

Jake and Pat Dresden have shown extraordinary commitment to helping students understand themselves as lifelong learners. Jake supported the creation of CA’s Learning Center, as well as a Hall Fellow panel that discussed the relationship between neurology and learning. Over the past eight years, Pat’s keen observations, good sense of humor, and wise judgments have been valued by faculty and students alike. Pat could turn what fell out of students’ backpacks — partially eaten food, iPods, homework, chewed pencils, and gym shorts (sometimes clean, often not) — into a roadmap to their organizational challenges. She organized the disorganized, taught time management skills to the harried, and honed study strategies for the overwhelmed. She has been a friend, advisor, study skills coordinator, and much more to all who entered the Learning Center. Thanks to the dedication of Jake and Pat, the Learning Center has become a community resource, offering strategies to help students maximize their academic potential.

Not Mom, But Close

s a twelve-year-old boy, when coming home from voice lessons, I would anticipate my mother’s uncurling chignon as she prepared tomato broth for Sunday night dinner.

Each week I would watch her methodically stir and occasionally taste the liquid inside the metal pot. I remember the capricious steam that moistened the overdue rent and credit card bills on top of the kitchen counter.

After entering my two-bedroom apartment unnoticed, I would greet my mother by singing the gospel music I had learned that day. For a brief moment, the deep crevices on her face, dark shading around her eyes, and broken smile disappeared; I would find solace, security, and comfort as she gently swayed her body and allowed herself to absorb the words of the gospel. The resonance vibrated throughout my body and echoed throughout the apartment walls as I belted out circles and circles of wholesome sound and harmony. My mother and I would often embrace one another at the end of the gospel and begin conversing about our day.

My mother may be in New York, but I found a second mother when I came to Concord Academy: my advisor, Pat Dresden. She has

Tara Bradley

by Lewis Salas ’09

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Pat Dresden and her advisee, Lewis Salas ’09

encouraged me to color outside the lines, be effusive, and destroy the constraints that might have limited me to a specific persona. Like my mother, she believed in the comfortable space we shared when together and the value of introspection. With her help, I was able to develop a keen eye, which allowed me to see beauty in simplicity: the bright orange of marigolds, the sound of raindrops. She accepted me as one of her own children, and constantly compared me to the youngest, Graham. Since my freshman year, Pat has believed in my internal fire, which energized me to be a student-athlete, roommate, leader, and friend. She has helped me gain perspective on the world around me, love unconditionally, and seize opportunities.

More than an advocate, Pat Dresden is also my friend. She has coached me when I was practicing speeches for leadership positions. She has attended several of my cross-country meets and my basketball and lacrosse games. She has given me birthday and “I’m so proud of you!” cards, dropped everything to pick up my friend for my chapel talk, given me a place to stay in her house, and provided a home to my family during Parents’ Weekend. She has put the pieces back together when they had fallen apart and gently helped me transition from public to private school. She has given me my daily dose of SAT words during our weekly meetings, as well as laughter and support. Together we have laughed, cried, and smiled. She has hugged me during my best and worst times. Pat Dresden has blanketed me with all the warmth, support, and candor I needed to do my best at Concord Academy.

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— Marge Albin, Learning Center Director

The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War Mustafa Aksakal, former faculty Cambridge University Press, 2008

Little Girls in Matching Dresses and Other Tales of Mothers, Daughters & Grandmothers Faith Andrews Bedford ’63 Hearst Books, 2009

Long-held perceptions about the Ottomans’ decision to enter the First World War are challenged in this recent addition to the Cambridge Military History series.

Aksakal, a professor at American University, delves into why the Ottomans, led by War Minister Enver Pasha, allied with Germany, presuming the superior German army and navy would protect them from Russian advancement in the Turkish Straits. Instead of realizing the swift victory it imagined, the Empire dissolved. Using Ottoman and European documents, Aksakal brings to light the complexities of this historic alliance, which set the stage for ongoing uncertainties in the modern Middle East. Aksakal’s dissertation on this topic won the Bayard and Cleveland E. Dodge Memorial Prize for Best Dissertation in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton.

Light-hearted reminiscences and descriptive snapshots fill the pages of this delightful memoir, in which the author shares long-held family traditions with her own children.

Bedford’s essays capture the essence of the simple life: “All afternoon, a steady stream of hawks flew overhead: sharp-shinned and Coopers, red-tailed and broad-wing.

The girls handed out the pillows, and we lay on the soft moss and counted the hawks.” Little Girls captures the everyday, from that balmy autumn afternoon observing hawks in flight, to the delights of a grandchild catching fireflies for the first time, to the emotion behind a neighbor’s need to leave a porch light on for a son missing in action.

Unburdened by Conscience: A Black People’s Collective Account of America’s Ante-Bellum South and the Aftermath Anthony W. Neal ’77 University Press of America, 2009 While an undergraduate in the late 1970s, Neal noted a distinct lack of balance in the American slavery texts he read. In Unburdened by Conscience, Neal pointedly challenges noted antebellum historians, including Ulrich Phillips, Henry Steele Commager, and Kenneth Stampp, who repeatedly downplayed the brutal treatment of slaves by their masters in key historic accounts. By tapping narratives written by former slaves, Neal refutes the conventional antebellum wisdom with searing, first-person accounts. He details how slave owners deliberately bred slaves, indiscriminately sold offspring and spouses to break up slave families, and supported “slave codes”— legislation that allowed masters to torture or even murder their slaves with no legal recourse.

This Little Mommy Stayed Home Samantha Thayer Wilde ’93 Bantam Books, 2009 For Joy McGuire, motherhood isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be.

While under the spell of her newborn, she loses touch with her annoying and distractible workaholic husband, and, at times, with reality.

As she slowly comes to, an old college flame — the one she really loved when she married her husband — resurfaces, but her relationship quandary deepens when Oliver, the dreamy yoga teacher, begins paying her a bit too much attention.

Humor abounds in this fictional romp through first-time parenting, driven by the mixed-up emotions that a deceptively innocent baby can set loose.

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

CA Bookshelf

by Martha Kennedy, Library Director

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ATH LETIC S

Dan Sanford

Members of the boys alpine ski team with their championship trophy

CA’s boys and girls alpine ski teams capped an outstanding season with a total of four championship banners — girls, boys, and overall school titles for the Central Massachusetts Ski League (CMSL) as well as the boys title in the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class B Championships.

For the boys, it was the team’s second NEPSAC title in three years and third CMSL title in four years under Head Coach John McGarry. The girls team earned its own CMSL title, the second in four years, and placed fourth in the NEPSAC championships.

Russell Cohen ’09, above, Hadley Allen ’12, and Stephen Sarno ’11 were named All-New England.

The girls squash team, led by coach Tariq Mohammed, had an undefeated Eastern Independent League (EIL) season and earned its second consecutive EIL championship banner. Senior Hannah Kaemmer was named league MVP, the second consecutive year the title went to a CA player (carrying on where Fannie Watkinson ’08 left off). Senior Lindsay Kolowich was also named All-League.

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Dyan Urban

WINTER HIGHLIGHTS

AT H L E T I C S CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

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The boys squash team completed its season with a strong performance at the Class C NEISA Tournament. The team finished fifth overall, while Jake Dockterman ’09 finished first, Matt Styles ’12 third, and Will Watkinson ’10 fourth in their respective divisions.

The girls basketball team qualified for the EIL tournament for the sixth consecutive year and will return four of five starters next year, including two of the three leading scorers on the team, Julia Dyer ’10 and Olivia Pimm ’10.

The boys basketball team capped an 8−7 season by earning its second NEPSAC bid in three years. The team, coached for the seventh consecutive year by Scott Wick, was led throughout the season by EIL All-League Eric Benvenuti and EIL Honorable Mention Josh Reed-Diawuoh, both seniors.

The girls volleyball team qualified for the Eastern Independent Tournament for the third consecutive year, where it finished third in Pool B. The team was led by two EIL All-League players, Sarah Thornton ’09 and Eliza Fish ’09, as well as Honorable Mention Kendall Tucker ’10.

The wrestling team finished third in the EIL this season. Four wrestlers qualified for the New England tournament, including Cy Hossain ’09, who finished second in his weight class at the EIL Tournament and was named to the All-League team. Juniors David Do and Dylan Awalt-Conley and sophomore Henry Kim also earned spots at the New England tournament, with David finishing second in his weight class and Dylan and Henry finishing third in theirs.

Henry also was named to the All-League team.

“In my pantheon of friends, Jake Dresden

EIL H ONOR S Girls Squash 2008−09 EIL Champions EIL MVP: Hannah Kaemmer ’09 All League: Hannah Kaemmer ’09, Lindsay Kolowich ’09 Boys Basketball All League: Eric Benvenuti ’09 Honorable Mention: Josh Reed-Diawuoh ’09

is ‘The Man Who Loves Bicycles.’

His preferred mode of transportation reflects his habits of mind. He is balanced, centered, sensible, observant, and watchful; has a good sense of direction; knows how to steer a course and when to put on the brakes; loves the open air; and is strong, quiet, and close to the ground without being pedestrian.”

Girls Volleyball All League: Eliza Fish ’09, Sarah Thornton ’09 Honorable Mention: Kendall Tucker ’10

— the late Henry Moses, former head of Trinity School, at Jake Dresden’s installation as Concord Academy’s head of school

Boys Wrestling All League: Cy Hossain ’09, Henry Kim ’11

Life Cycles f there were a road from Boston to Bangkok, Jake Dresden could have biked it. With the 10,000 miles he’s covered over the past twentyfive years, he could have made it from Concord to Buenos Aires and back again, or from Los Angeles to Laos.

Dresden took up cycling in the late 1980s, after back problems ended his years of running.

“I got hooked right away,” he said. Early on, Dresden rode a mountain bike. Then, in the early ’90s, he bought his first road bike, an Italian Pinarello. “For those days, it was light, sleek, and so much easier to ride than the mountain bike,” he said. Today Dresden’s bike of choice is an Orbea, a Spanish, all-carbon road bike favored by many professional cyclists in the Basque region. “It’s the best bike I own,” he said, and he owns three, which he maintains himself. A fan of bike maintenance guru Lennard Zinn, Dresden has taught himself how to “clean, replace brake pads, tires, and the like — just the basics. I leave the fine tuning to the wrenches,” he said, in deference to expert bike mechanics.

When Dresden was head of the Collegiate School, he rode regularly in and around New York City, often with Paul Ness, former chief financial officer at CA and then Collegiate’s business manager. “Finding a good deli was always a major goal of our rides,” said Ness, currently CFO at the Bronx Preparatory Charter School.

Challenge was another goal. In 1994, they completed the NYC Century Bike Tour — one hundred miles through Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, a ride Dresden has completed two times since. Early in the ’94 ride, Dresden fell, smashing his hand and wrenching his neck. Bolstered by Ness and the hundreds of other riders, he climbed back on and finished the last 60-plus miles. In another memorable ride with Ness, the two rented bikes after the 2002 National Association of Independent Schools conference in San Francisco and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge and around the

Marin Headlands, enjoying views of the city and the Pacific.

Dresden prefers sociable cycling, but also pedals solo. His favorite places to ride alone are in Concord and neighboring towns, and in the Adirondacks near his seasonal home, particularly along the western shore of Lake Champlain and inland through the farmland. “I’m a fan of silence,” said Dresden. “I also like wide vistas, and the chance to see things in front of me.

There’s so much to see on a bike.”

A self-described “gear head,” Dresden pays attention to bike components and clothing — anything that might give him an edge. “I’m extremely competitive, particularly with myself, and particularly as I get older,” said Dresden, who reads his subscription to VeloNews cover to cover to keep up with cycling trends. His most recent purchase: high-performance wheels made for speed. “The wheels are the most important component of a great bike,” he said.

“I’m not into racing, but I do like going fast.”

Next on his wish list is a compact chain set, which would give him additional gears to tackle steeper terrain.

For now, he’s excited about the beauty and challenge of a 400-mile, eight-day ride along the Erie Canal this summer. “What could be better,” he mused, “than to ride for a while and then get off, eat a bagel, wander through a museum, and appreciate the blessings of being alive and active?”

— Tara Bradley 33

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Photos by Dan Sanford

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Kenneth Helvig

D RTS A EPA RTPicnic, by William Inge, CA’s winter mainstage production

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

Poster Girl

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ehind the colorful posters that have adorned school walls before every theatre production for the last three years, there are not many creative minds, but only one.

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Since her first design for The Seagull sophomore year, Anneliese Cooper ’09, has become CA’s unofficial poster designer. Even FroshProject’s poster, traditionally handled

by Theatre Program Director David R. Gammons, was handed over to Anneliese in 2009. This year alone she has produced several images, from the fantastical castle of The Tsarina’s Harp to the powerful simplicity of The Women of Lockerbie.

Anneliese describes poster design as “working backward,” different from other art forms in which the artist has complete control from start to end. She generally begins with some vague guidance from

the director, which she translates into a poster that states necessary information while visually representing the mood of the play.

The prolific artist hopes successors — and not just one — will step in after she graduates. She finds the work fulfilling, especially when she sees people casually complimenting her work without noticing her or, better yet, when people take the posters home as souvenirs.

— Daphne Kim ’10 Prolific poster artist Anneliese Cooper ’09 says her favorite theatre posters include her works for The Threepenny Opera and Her House.

David R. Gammons

Thanking the Gunds

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icture CA students elbow to elbow with artists and museum curators, crowding around the workbenches of adults for whom art is their life’s work. This is what Concord Academy’s biennial field trips, Museum Day and Studio Day, are all about.

On Museum Day and Studio Day, the school empties out, as students, teachers, and staff split into groups and head off on foot, by bus, and by rail to go where the art is.

This is a unique endeavor; few if any other schools mount communitywide arts field trips of this sort.

From now on, these field

Ann and Graham Gund with Grady ’08

For a fall departmental study, Jannie Kitchen ‘09 directed The Women of Lockerbie, a play that explores grief related to the bombing of Pam Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

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rchitect, musician, and visionary artist Christopher Janney recently spoke at Concord Academy, presenting a program called “Architecture of the Air,” a tour through a world in which he melds music and architecture.

“I try to make music more like architecture, and I try to make architecture more like music,” he explained — a concept that becomes clear when you see his interactive soundlight installation in a New York City subway station, his rainbow concourse in the Miami airport, and the large park-

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ing garage he designed surrounded by interactive lights. “I think you can hear color. I think you can see sound,” he said.

Janney is working on projects with Herbie Hancock and Prince, turning their music into visual images. Perhaps his most accessible art in the Boston area is a musical staircase, his “sound stairs” at the Museum of Science. He spoke to students at CA a few days before a benefit for Summer Stages Dance, which featured a performance of “Heartbeat,” a work created by Janney in which a dancer moves to the ever-increasing beat of her own heart.

David R. Gammons

Hearing Color, Seeing Sound

Tim Morse

The all-freshmen cast of Coming Attractions: VegiTrailer, written and directed by seniors Adam Cole, Mark Ingber, and Daniel Lander, in one of FroshProject 8 ’s fourteen skits

trips will bear a new name: Gund Museum Day and Gund Studio Day, in honor of Graham and Ann Gund P’08, who have been dedicated patrons of the arts at CA — and elsewhere.

“Graham and I have always been impressed with CA’s strength in the arts, and we’re honored to have our name associated with this one-of-akind program,” Ann Gund said.

Head of School Jake Dresden praised the Gunds’ dedication to the arts, and their support of Museum Day and Studio Day. “Ann, who is a CA trustee, has been a wonderful asset to this program, using her connections in Boston arts circles to open doors for us and helping line up field trip sites,” said Dresden. “Ann and Graham are serious art collectors — as you know if you’ve attended the receptions they’ve hosted for CA at their Cambridge and Nantucket homes. In naming these field trips for the Gunds, we recognize their lifelong dedication to the role of the arts, not just in education, but in life. And we pay tribute to the generosity the Gunds have demonstrated to Concord Academy.”

ARTS

THEO STOCKMAN ’03 plays many roles, but he seems to have abandoned the one as “struggling actor.” You may have seen him on TV in recent months, as a “hipster tech support dude” on NBC’s 30 Rock and a DJ on ABC’s Cupid. He performed in a revival of Hair in Central Park last summer, and opened in Hair on Broadway in March. Stockman spoke by email with Concord Academy magazine about Hair on Broadway, a bald version of Hair, and why Dionysus was the original hippie. Stockman had more to say than space allows; check out his full interview at concordacademy.org/stockman.

Q&A

Theo Stockman ’03 CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

Tell us about some of the roles you’re most proud of.

Dionysus in The Bacchae by Euripides — I got to play a Greek sex god; what more can one ask for? — and Claude in NYU’s production of Hair. It was a total reimagining of the show, with shaved heads and all-white costuming, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had on stage. Also, I studied for a summer at the International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam, and I did a scene from The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh. I played Michael — he’s sort of a manchild, mentally very slow. Even though it was only a scene, losing myself in that character was incredible.

How did you land your current role as a hippie in Hair?

Hair was my first gig out of school — it originally started as a three-night staged concert in Central Park through the Public Theater, a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the show. That was about two years ago. When I auditioned, I was pretty fresh from

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playing the lead role in Hair at NYU, and even though that production was totally different, I had a profound understanding of the play’s concepts and felt very confident. This is very rare as an actor, at least for me — I find that in order to truly conquer the terror of auditioning, I have to inhabit an almost inhuman confidence. I also went in there with my ripped jeans and mussed hair and put all my years of angst and anticonformity (most of which sprouted on Concord Academy’s campus) to good use. I think they saw something in me that aligned with the antiestablishment themes of the show.

The nude scene was a very big deal when Hair debuted. Were you uncomfortable?

I immediately knew I wanted to participate in the nude scene — it was a decision left up to the individual actor, even though an overwhelming majority of the cast chose to strip. It’s such an iconic and beautiful image: a group of young people singing “freedom” at the top of their lungs in the nude, defying the world to accept them in their most vulnerable and open state.

Tim Curry, who was in the London production of Hair years ago, said the nude scene in the play is about putting complete trust in the purity of the audience’s gaze. There’s nothing erotic about the moment — it’s probably the most innocent and pure moment in the production. The first time we all did it, during a dress rehearsal in the park, my heart was furiously doing the jitterbug. But once we were there all together, it felt utterly safe and amazing. Standing naked in Central Park in front of close to 2,000 people, feeling the air and seeing the sky, made the Broadway nudity that much easier.

Any funny Hair stories?

One time in Central Park, during the dance party at the end where the audience comes on stage and dances with the cast, a woman got completely naked. I gave her a big hug. It was awesome.

When you played the lead in Hair at NYU, the cast members shaved their heads. Is a bald Hair a good idea?

Hair is the original nonconformist musical; I think any challenge or inversion of it is completely in the spirit of what the show set out to embrace.

[Hair cowriter] Jim Rado actually came to see it twice; he loved it.

You were on 30 Rock recently.

Yes! I made my TV debuts, on 30 Rock and Cupid. I played a character named Ephraim on 30 Rock, who is sort of a hipster tech support dude — I had a scene with Alec Baldwin!

Who at CA is Tina Fey most like?

I only met Tina briefly, but she’s probably most like Eve Fraser-Corp, the rock ‘n’ roll nurse of CA. They both have a sort of dry humor and humility, but care very deeply about their work.

There’s a stereotype of actors enduring endless auditions before they get a break. Just how grueling has this process been?

While I was lucky enough to find work right out of school, I went through a pretty harrowing journey finding representation. I did a few showcases in school, and ended up having meetings with pretty big-time agencies that were humiliating and scary. Lots of sitting at the end of long tables trying to “sell myself.” It took me a while to find people in the profession who I felt wanted to work with me for who I am.

There are a lot of bullies out there.

Also, having the writers’ strike right after graduation was inconvenient; there really weren’t any TV or film auditions. So there was a period, especially between Hair’s incarnations from three-day concert to the full run in Central Park, where I really wasn’t working. It’s hard; you have to remain hopeful and continue to pursue things that keep you fulfilled, even if you’re not getting acting gigs.

You’ve played Dionysus (and won a Best Actor award for the role at an international festival of theatre schools). Now you’re playing a hippie. How do you prepare for such vastly different roles?

Are both characters inside you?

I think that Dionysus was, in a way, the original hippie. He was the Greek god of wine and sex and debauchery — he originated free love! The version of Dionysus that I played was kind of a Robert Plant-like rock ’n’ roll hero: very sexy and wild, but with an incredible fury and thirst for revenge that I really loved tapping into. I used to listen to “Raw Power” by Iggy & the Stooges before the show to get that ferocity. I think we all want to be rock stars in some way — that power of freedom and fearlessness. So I think Dionysus is definitely inside me in some ways; as far as the severing of limbs and bloodlust qualities are concerned, maybe not so much.

Do you get stage fright?

I wouldn’t say I get stage fright, per se — it’s more of a profound electricity and utter, delightful nervousness.

Usually, if I’m in a play, once it has been running for a while I am totally fine, but the opening and first few performances — when I’m first discovering how the presence of the audience affects the show — I’m extremely jittery. But I love it. I use it!

Think back to theatre at CA. Which of your CA roles is most memorable?

Oh, man. Definitely playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. David Gammons directed it, and it was the Shakespeare play with Beatles music.

It was the first time I came into my own at Concord Academy, really felt that I knew who I was and what I wanted to do. That production just rocked the school — it was Gammons’s debut as well. I’ll never forget the feeling of performing that amazing role, getting to sing “I’m Only Sleeping” and “Yesterday.” I also wore really cool overalls. Right after that was The Laramie Project, which was totally opposite in tone but equally if not more powerful. I really fell in love with straight theatre. I love singing, but being part of a play — dramatic or comedic — is probably how I really want to spend my life in the theatre.

At CA, you directed The Perks of Being a Wallflower for a Directors Seminar. Should we read anything into that choice?

Directors Seminar forced me to confront an experience that I was kind of terrified of, which was directing a play.

I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower when I was a sophomore, and it totally blew me away. It’s about everything a fifteen-year-old goes through in high school: discovering one’s own identity while feeling completely lost and socially anxious. I had never read anything with such a genuine understanding of “teenagerdom.”

Gammons mentored me, I had an incredible cast (a majority of whom had never set foot on a stage before), and the reception to the play was amazing. I remember [former Academic Dean] Patty Hager coming up to me with tears in her eyes. My friend Steve Harris [’03] gave me a big hug and said, “It’s about us.”

How did that early directing experience prepare you for NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and beyond?

As an actor, sometimes it’s hard to step outside oneself and see the

bigger picture. But having directed a play, I still try to see all aspects of a performance; I suppose it’s helped me to become less selfish in my acting. It’s important to remember that an actor is only one piece of the puzzle — there are so many elements to a production that need to fall into place, from the arc of the entire story to the music and lights, everything.

Directing Perks was invaluable to me as an actor.

Besides acting, you’re a DJ in NY. Do you have a DJ name?

I am indeed! My name is DJ Theocracy — the deity that rules my kingdom is rock ’n’ roll.

What tunes do you like to play?

The music I play is what I like to listen to — I got into DJing because I was fed up with going out and not being able to hear the music that my friends and I really love. I play everything from sixties’ girl groups (Ronettes, Shangri-Las, Exciters) to seventies’ punk (Buzzcocks, Ramones, Undertones) and eighties’ stuff (the Smiths or New Order) to current indie rock (Arcade Fire or Belle & Sebastian)

and electronic music (Hot Chip or LCD Soundsystem).

What advice do you have for current students who want to make it on Broadway?

The thing I’m most proud of is that I made my Broadway debut by being myself. A lot of people try to brand themselves as something they’re not in order to impress people at auditions. I think if you just believe in yourself and your talent, and present yourself truly and honestly, casting directors will see that and respond to it. Every job I’ve ever gotten has been a result of just relaxing, taking a breath, and being myself.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Check out the Hair Web site (hairbroadway.com)! It’s really cool, and there are video bios of the entire cast, and cast blogs. And come see Hair!

Theo Stockman ’03, front and center with the “Lay don’t Slay” sign, in Hair Joan Marcus / Courtesy of Hair

What kind of character would be hard to summon?

I’ve always been attracted to the dark side of people — exploring qualities that I myself don’t possess or am afraid of. So I don’t know — maybe someone more traditional, someone safe? I find that the less extreme characters are, the more difficult a time I have exploring them because they don’t immediately excite me.

How did CA’s theatre program influence your art?

One of the primary reasons I chose to attend CA was because of its amazing, cutting-edge theatre program. I don’t know what kind of actor I would be now if I had gone to a school that did Oklahoma in an ugly auditorium every year. Studying experimental theatre and performance theory in such a sophisticated way with Gammons and the Theatre 3 ensemble really opened my eyes to all kinds of ideas about what being an artist means. Studying theatre at Concord was a monumental force in the shaping of my identity as an actor, and as an artist in general.

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Your Extended Family

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ALUMNAE I ASSOCIATION UPDATE

CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

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s financial markets and the economy were spiraling downward, people began reaching out to their communities for direction and support. Many rethought their priorities and returned to the values instilled early in their lives. Among Concord Academy alumnae/i, we have noticed an increase in attendance at events, more updates to profile information on the Web site, and inquiries about other alumnae/i who might be in their profession or in their town.

Clearly, our experiences at CA have given us a common foundation, one that rests on a high regard for common trust, respect for diverse ideas and backgrounds, and joy in creativity and learning. Being a member of this extended community can offer support in times like this, but also inspiration.

We invite you to take advantage of upcoming opportunities to connect with your CA community, whether attending a reunion, an assembly or chapel talk, or one of the many summer and fall events planned, which include CA Red Sox excursions, a wine tasting, an exhibit opening, and a book group discussion. These gatherings reinforce our connections to each other and remind us of the values that distinguish the CA community.

I also invite you to visit the Chameleon Connection at concordalum.org on a regular basis to view upcoming events and register for those that interest you. The Chameleon Connection can link you to alumnae/i in your field for networking or career development, or just help you connect with alumnae/i in your area. If you need assistance, the Alumnae/i Programs staff can help; please email karen_culbert@concordacademy.org if you have questions about using the Web site or connecting with CA through social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

Please also make sure that CA has your current email address on file so you don’t miss eNewsletters and invitations as the school tries to manage its print and postage budgets. There are so many new ways to stay in touch—let’s make sure we do!

Maureen Mulligan ’80 President, Alumnae/i Association

Elizabeth J. Mun 1992 – 2009 CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2009

With love and sorrow, Concord Academy remembers Lizzy Mun ’10.

Our hearts go out to her parents, Drs. Edward and Sue Lee Mun, and to her brother, Edward (Eddy) Mun Jr. ’07.

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A Triple Play of Giving

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ruce A. Beal Jr. ’88 is a partner and executive vice president of Related Companies, one of the largest private real estate firms in the country. After a series of conversations with Head of School Jake Dresden, Bruce and his wife, Dr. Kathryn Beal, a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, were inspired to create the Beal Family Fund for the Head’s Priorities at Concord Academy. In addition, the Beals made a second gift to help fund the construction of playing fields on Concord Academy’s newly purchased 13.6 acres.

“Jake has had tremendous vision for the school, and it is gratifying for us to be able to provide a gift that will have enduring impact on Concord Academy and offer the institution the ability to capitalize on new opportunities as they present themselves. We are also pleased to be

“Concord Academy offers an exceptional learning environment, diverse student body, and unique sense of community, and my experience there helped to define me as a person. Although I haven’t lived in the Boston area for over fifteen years, Head of School Jake Dresden has helped to reconnect me to the school, and I am very impressed with his efforts to further enhance the student experience and Concord’s evolution as one of the leading secondary schools. Concord taught me the importance of giving back, and my wife Kathryn and I are proud to be able to support this fine school and create the Beal Family Fund.”

— Bruce A. Beal Jr. ’88

able to support the athletic program and to ensure that Concord Academy continues to offer a full range of academics, arts, and athletics,” Beal said. “As Director of Athletics Carol Anne Beach often points out, in a school that encourages individual achievement as much as Concord Academy, playing on a baseball or lacrosse team can offer an important chance to work in concert with others and understand the value of teamwork.”

In addition to these two major gifts, the Beals routinely contribute to CA’s Annual Fund because, as Bruce explained, “the school needs to be able to count on critical annual support. I want our contributions to the school to offer a variety of types of gifts—endowment for the future, spendable funds for exciting capital improvements, and annual gifts for sustenance.

We are excited about being involved, and delighted to be able to help out on these multiple fronts.”

Jake Dresden praised the Beals not only for their generosity, but for the imagination Bruce brought to the structure and philosophy behind his philanthropy. “In the middle of his very busy life in New York City,” Dresden said, “Bruce took the time to think hard about Concord Academy and to figure out the most creative ways he might help us out financially, now and in the years to come. I and my successors in this office will always be grateful.”

Bruce Beal ’88, fourth from left, in the 1987 Concord Academy yearbook

Non-Profit U.S. Postage PAID Hanover, NH Permit No. 8 Concord Academy 166 Main Street Concord, MA 01742

Julieta Cervantes

Address service requested

Upcoming Special Events May 29

Commencement Speaker: Geneticist Eric Lander Chapel Lawn, 10:00 a.m.

Fall 2009 Installation of Head of School Rick Hardy

June 12–14

Reunion Weekend June 13

Check concordacademy.org in late summer for more information.

Reunion Weekend Memorial Service Elizabeth B. Hall Chapel, 9:30 a.m.

Joan Shaw Herman Award for Distinguished Service Elizabeth B. Hall Chapel, 11:00 a.m.

Armitage Gone! Dance

Summer Stages Dance at Concord Academy June 14

Workshop: July 5–July 26

Reunion Weekend Pancake Breakfast Sponsored by the Concord Academy Young Alumnae/i Committee (CAYAC) Stu-Fac, 11:00 a.m.

M EET

July 9

July 23

June 22

Concord Academy Summer Camp opens

Armitage Gone! Dance Performing Arts Center, 8:00 p.m. $25, $15 for students and seniors

David Parker & The Bang Group Performing Arts Center, 8:00 p.m. $25, $15 for students and seniors

August 10

July 11

July 25

CA at the Red Sox vs. the Tigers Fenway Park, 7:05 p.m.

The Disappearing Woman with Nell Breyer, Alissa Cardone, Lorraine Chapman, and Bronwen MacArthur Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, 7:30 p.m. $25, $15 for ICA members, students, and seniors

New site-specific work featuring Gabri Christa and Germaul Barnes, 2009 Summer Stages Dance/Baryshnikov Arts Center resident artists Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Free for families

July 16

July 25

Chris Elam/Misnomer Dance Theater Performing Arts Center, 8:00 p.m. $25, $15 for students and seniors

Choreographers’ Project Showcase Performing Arts Center, 8:00 p.m. $25, $15 for students and seniors

September 1

First day of classes

TH E

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September 15

CA at the Red Sox vs. the Angels Fenway Park, 7:05 p.m.

October 9–10

Parents’ Weekend June 9, 14 Check for updated information at

www.concordacademy.org/calendars.

Dancing for Summer Stages! Dancers join celebrities for SSD’s version of Dancing with the Stars Rialto, Harvard Square, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. From $200, including dinner by Chef Jody Adams