Bulletin Winter 2010

St. George’s School P.O. Box 1910 Newport, RI 02840-0190

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID St. George’s School

S T. G E OR G E ’S 2010

winter Bulletin

St. George’s School 2010 winter Bulletin

In this issue: Tenth headmaster of St. George’s, Charles A. Hamblet, dies at 68

BY SUZANNE

L. MCGRADY

Becoming Mary BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY Generous in many ways: Lewis N. Madeira ’39 Former Science Department Chair Gilbert Burnett Jr. to be memorialized Chapel talks: Life lessons from Pops BY POLLY MURRAY ’10 A place to call home BY SABRA WILSON ’10

Community Service: Spotlight on Camp Ramleh Reunion Weekend 2010 Class Notes

C OVER

STORY:

Remembering Headmaster Emeritus Charles A. Hamblet (1941-2010)

BY SUZANNE

L. MCGRADY

St . G e o r g e ’ s S c h o o l M i s s i o n St a t e m e n t In 1896, the Rev. John Byron Diman, founder of St. George’s School, wrote in his “Purposes of the School” that “the specific objectives of St. George’s are to give its students the opportunity of developing to the fullest extent possible the particular gifts that are theirs and to encourage in them the desire to do so. Their immediate job after leaving school is to handle successfully the demands of college; later it is hoped that their lives will be ones of constructive service to the world and to God.” In the 21st century, we continue to teach young women and men the value of learning and achievement, service to others, and respect for the individual. We believe that these goals can best be accomplished by exposing students to a wide range of ideas and choices in the context of a rigorous curriculum and a supportive residential community.

Therefore, we welcome students and teachers of various talents and backgrounds, and we encourage their dedication to a multiplicity of pursuits —intellectual, spiritual, and physical—that will enable them to succeed in and contribute to a complex, changing world.

Upcoming Events St. George’s Day Celebration for Friends of the Chapel

Fri., April 23

Reunion Weekend

Fri., May 14 - Sun., May 16 Spring Dance Concert

Sat., May 29 Prize Day

Mon., May 31

Day Student Family Picnic

Tues., Sept. 7, 5:30 p.m.

Convocation chapel and classes begin

Mon., Sept. 13, 8 a.m.

Parents Weekend

Fri., Oct. 22 - Sat., Oct. 23

You’re invited: Regional Receptions St . G e o r g e ’ s Po l i c y o n Non- Disc rimi nati on St. George’s School admits male and female students of any religion, race, color, sexual orientation, and national or ethnic origin to all the programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, color, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs. In addition, the school welcomes visits from disabled applicants.

Reception in Seoul, Korea

April 2010

Contact Events coordinator Ann Weston at Ann_Weston@stgeorges.edu or 401.842.6731 for details

Princeton, N.J. At the home of Edward and Marie Matthews P’87

Thurs., April 15

Fairfield, Conn.

At the home of Virginia and Jim Dean ’72, P’11

Tues., April 27

Gladstone, N.J. At the home of Betsy Michel P’85, ’89

Tues., May 4

St. George’s Bulletin The Alumni/ae Magazine of St. George’s School Newport, R.I. Students gather in the front hall of Old School prior to the winter formal.

PHOTO BY R AY WOISHEK ’89

On the cover: The Headmaster’s Office in Old School.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY R AY WOISHEK ’89 On the back cover: Patrick McGinnis ’11, who broke the school record in the 50-yard freestyle, is among a number of impressive athletes on the SG swim team.

PHOTO BY A NDREA H ANSEN

Contents From the editor’s desk ........................................................................................................................................2 Tenth headmaster of St. George’s, Charles A. Hamblet, dies at 68 BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ..............3

ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL

Becoming Mary BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ..........................................................................................................12

P.O. BOX 1910

Remembering former trustee Lewis N. Madeira ’39 ................................................................................22

NEWPORT, RI 02840-0190

Former Science Department Chair Gilbert Burnett Jr. to be memorialized ........................................24

Office of the Bulletin Editor tel: (401) 842-6792

Chapel talks: Life lessons from Pops BY POLLY MURRAY ’10 ..........................................................................................26

fax: (401) 842-6745

A place to call home BY SABRA WILSON ’10 ............................................................................................29

e-mail: suzanne_mcgrady@stgeorges.edu

Faculty/staff notes............................................................................................................................................31 SG Zone - Athletics ............................................................................................................................................33 Highlights: Student achievements ................................................................................................................38

Suzanne McGrady, editor Dianne Reed, communications associate Toni Ciany, editorial assistant Contributing photographers: Ray Woishek ’89 Andrea Hansen Kathryn Whitney Lucey The St. George’s Bulletin is published bi-annually.

Global outreach ..................................................................................................................................................43 On the web ..........................................................................................................................................................45 Arts ........................................................................................................................................................................48 Classrooms ..........................................................................................................................................................52 Community service: Spotlight on Camp Ramleh ......................................................................................56 Traditions ..............................................................................................................................................................61 Geronimo ..............................................................................................................................................................64 In brief ..................................................................................................................................................................66 Campus happenings ..........................................................................................................................................67

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This magazine is printed on paper that is certified

by SmartWood to meet the Forest Stewardship Council standards. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable way.

Post Hilltop ..........................................................................................................................................................71 Giving back: News from the Alumni/ae office ..........................................................................................73 Around campus ..................................................................................................................................................74 Reunion Weekend 2010....................................................................................................................................77 Class Notes ..........................................................................................................................................................79

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St. George’s From the editor’s desk T

his edition is dedicated to the memory of our former headmaster, Chuck Hamblet, who died Jan. 13, 2010.

I’ve been told that at the end of his life, Chuck knew he would be remembered for the way the St. George’s campus was transformed under his leadership. New dormitories, upgraded athletic facilities, a new arts center and campus center all were constructed under his reign. He could often be seen holding a groundbreaking shovel, standing at a podium delivering a welcome to the crowd.

That, however, is the Chuck for the next installment of the St. George’s School history. “The 1990s: Hamblet era marked by campus infrastructure improvements.” Chuck on paper.

I will remember Chuck for the man he was: friendly, fair, considerate, honorable.

I can’t claim to have known him well.

I worked for him, sat in the chair next to him every week at Administrative Committee meetings. I helped him out with a few speeches.

Connor and I take in the view on the When someone dies, you remember docks in Watch Hill, R.I. how he or she made you feel. Chuck was the opposite of a snob. Sure, he had high standards. He wanted us to be our best, and the way he went about it was by being approachable, kind and supportive.

When he caught my eye before a special event, he would give me one of his trademark smiles and a wink just to say, “OK, here we go. This is our show. This is going to be good.”

Carol, we hope it brings you some comfort to see all the wonderful ways in which he’s remembered here.

Chuck loved kids, and so I like to think he would appreciate the main feature of this edition: a story about adoption. Chuck’s grandson Nathan is adopted, and along with his granddaughter, Nicole, and grandson, Alexander, gave him so much joy.

The feature here, “Becoming Mary” (p. 12), came about after Mary Behan ’10 delivered a chapel talk in

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January about her search for her own identity as a girl born in China—and raised in an Irish Catholic family in Rhode Island. Afterward, I couldn’t help thinking: What is her mother’s story? Thank you sincerely to Tish Behan P’10, who was so warm and accepting of my story idea, and who opened up her heart in my reporting of it.

Two chapel talks in this edition also speak to issues of family and home. Home schooled as a youngster, Sabra Wilson ’10 (p. 29) says she’s learned to appreciate now the many places she feels comfortable and supported outside her native town of Lake Clear, N.Y. And “Life lessons from Pops” (p. 26) is senior Polly Murray’s essay on what she’s learned from her 87-year-old grandfather. There are lessons in there for all of us about confronting change: “First, be stubborn and refuse to let go of what’s familiar.

Then, consider the positive aspects of the change.

And finally, agree to change and notice only the newfound benefits.” I like that.

Speaking of change, this winter also marks the public announcement that one of our veteran administrators, Joe Gould, will leave his post as the school’s director of development and spend his last years at St. George’s as director of global programs, a subject close to his heart. Joe, a close associate and friend of Chuck Hamblet’s who began his career alongside Chuck at Phillips Exeter Academy, has been traveling to Asia both for the school and as a more personal passion for more than a decade. Stepping back from his fund-raising role will allow Joe to step into the classroom for the first time in his decades-long independent school career.

Like Pops, we predict he’ll “consider the positive aspects of the change … and agree to notice only the newfound benefits.”

Good luck, Joe.

Suzanne McGrady Bulletin Editor

Charles A. Hamblet Headmaster Emeritus

1941-2010 S T. G E O R G E ’ S 2 0 1 0 W I N T E R B U L L E T I N

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Tenth headmaster of St. George’s, ‘a warm and wise presence,’ dies at 68 “Chuck was … a true gentleman and consummate educator.

He will be sorely missed, but his legacy lives on in the schools he served so well.”

—Deirdre Ling, former Head of Middlesex School

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eadmaster Emeritus Charles A. Hamblet, the gentlemanly leader with a broad smile who led St. George’s through an unprecedented era of growth and prosperity from 1989-2004, died Jan. 9 at his home in St. Marys, Georgia. Chuck had battled a brain tumor courageously for nearly two years. He was 68. With him was his family, including his wife,

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Carol, who served the school as our coordinator of student services and who also was by Chuck’s side— collegially and devotedly—for all the major events in the life of the school during their tenure.

The 10th headmaster of the school, and the secondlongest serving in our history, Chuck presided over a period in which St. George’s established itself firmly as

a national leader among coeducational boarding schools, one in which boys and girls learned, lived, and competed together in state-of-the-art facilities. He was an unfailing advocate for teachers, determined to support them in their efforts with our students in many ways, not the least of which was through competitive compensation rivaling the best of our peer schools.

The Centennial Celebration in 1996 and the $36.6 million Centennial Campaign were hallmarks of Chuck’s tenure. While students and teachers were always his priorities, his legacy is also marked by the dramatic expansion of campus facilities. Construction began in 1992 with Buell and Wheeler dormitories and continued nearly nonstop until 2004 with the dedication of the Charles A. and Carol J. Hamblet Campus Center, appropriately named in the Hamblets’ honor after their retirement. In addition, during the Hamblet era the school added the Hoopes Squash Center, the new Van Beuren Gymnasium, the Hersey Track, the Ford Fitness Center, the new Geronimo, the Drury/Grosvenor Center for the Arts, the Cabot/Harman Ice Center, the Taverner Archives, East and Zane dormitories, and the Hoyt Pool.

Beyond physical facilities, under Chuck’s leadership a host of academic and other school programs also were expanded: in diversity, administrative and academic technology, Asian culture and Chinese language, and financial aid. Chuck and Carol believed in a holistic approach to student wellness and academic success.

Together, they established a team of school health professionals and administrators, The Health Group, which continues to meet each week to discuss student issues, and to support the health and emotional wellbeing of the students.

Beyond St. George’s, Chuck served on numerous boards and education committees. Until recently he was a trustee at Bridgton Academy, near the Hamblets’ summer home in Casco, Maine. He was also an influential board member and leader with the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame and A Better Chance.

Most recently, Chuck was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Chuck was born April 21, 1941, and grew up in

Lawrence, Mass. He graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland, close to where his grandparents lived. He earned a master’s degree in education from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., and taught in a public school nearby, where he met Carol, who also was a teacher. Chuck earned another master’s degree, in mathematics, at Brown University and entered prep school teaching at Governor Dummer Academy (now the Governor’s Academy) in Byfield, Massachusetts.

Chuck came to St. George’s in 1989 from Phillips Exeter Academy where, following his tenure at Governor Dummer, he had established himself for 19 years as a talented teacher, coach and leader, director of the summer school, chairman of the math department, dormitory parent, and coach of the varsity boys basketball team. Chuck became known at Exeter as a well-rounded educator who always kept students at the heart of his priorities. A program he developed to bring Native American students to independent schools was nationally recognized.

Chuck was a friendly presence to students at St. George’s, where he was a devoted fan of all the sports teams, traveling from sideline to sideline cheering on the athletes. His office open door policy frequently found him at his desk helping students with math problems or chatting with them about their day-today lives.

Chuck and Carol moved to Florida after their retirement from St. George’s, but after two years, Chuck was called out of retirement and was asked to serve for a year as interim headmaster at Westchester Country Day School, a private K-12 day school, in High Point, N.C. It would turn into a more long-term relationship: he became a beloved figure on campus, was asked to stay on as headmaster, and only stepped aside, due to his illness, last spring.

In addition to Carol, Chuck is survived by his son Rick, his daughter-in-law Lesley, and their children, Nathan and Nicole, as well as by his son Todd, his daughter-in-law Lauren, and their son Alexander.

A memorial service was held on Jan. 16 in the St. George’s Chapel.

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Editor’s note: Upon the death of Headmaster Emeritus Chuck Hamblet, who ran the school from 1989-2004, we contacted several former senior prefects during his tenure to get their recollections of his spirit and influence.

Following are some of their memories.

‘Horse’ with Hamblet

BY JASON MONROE ’95

M

r. Hamblet provided me with the first of many lessons I would learn on the Hilltop during a simple game of “Horse.”

I was 12 years old and decided to tag along to SG with my father (Sylvester ’69) who happened to be giving the keynote speech on Prize Day. At some point during my stay, Mr. Hamblet invited me down to the Dorrance fieldhouse to shoot some hoops. I was pretty excited about the opportunity to show off the skills I’d been honing for the last

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couple of years. And what better way to do so against what most boys from the south side of Chicago would refer to as “an old white man.”

Granted, we ended up only playing a game of “Horse,” but I was still both excited and confident. Needless to say, what would transpire next I did not see coming. Mr. Hamblet DID NOT MISS ONE SHOT. Jason Monroe DID NOT HIT ONE SHOT. Need I say more?

There I was: a disappointed 12-year-old, still in a state of shock and confusion over what just happened. All I could think of was how I would tell my friends back in Chicago and Los Angeles that “an old white man” beat me in a game of “Horse.” And that was an understatement. Mr. Hamblet wasn’t the type to rub it in either. He didn’t need to. His actions on the court did his talking. For him, it was really a moment to teach and provide feedback on what I could do differently, what I could do to be better. The respect was instant. I knew what

S T. G E O R G E ’ S 2 0 1 0 W I N T E R B U L L E T I N

I had to do from that point on.

Fast forward a year or so. I am the starting point guard on the Hilltop and, like Mr. Hamblet, I let my “game” do the talking for the next four years. Not to mention, I graduated as the senior prefect.

That game of “Horse” meant a lot to me.

The lessons learned from the game mean even more and transcend well beyond the context of a “game.” Words like “persistence,”“work ethic,” “sportsmanship,”“leadership,”“open-minded,” “receptive,”“competitive,” and “humble” come to mind as takeaways from what was otherwise a sound defeat. Over the course of my four years on the Hilltop, I became a better athlete. I no longer focused on just basketball. I became a better student. I became a leader. I considered myself to be well rounded at last. …

It’s amazing what a simple game of “Horse” can do.

Thanks, Mr. Hamblet!

‘‘

I remember well an overall sense I developed from my many interactions with [Mr. Hamblet] while I was Senior Prefect, namely that he cared deeply about the students at the school and was a very good listener. I remember in particular the prefect lunches we would have in his office. These usually consisted of the five of us talking to Mr. Hamblet about the various things that were going on at the school, including giving voice to any complaints or grievances students may have had about one thing or another. And I remember always feeling that he was listening to what we said. Even when he would deny a request or explain why something could not be done, he invariably did it in a way that was not at all dismissive and instead showed that he understood the students’ perspective. As a result, he and I had a very good relationship and, I believe, he did as well with the other prefects.

—Charles Barzun ’93

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in the classroom, time he took to meet people in his office or off-campus. Thank you to his family for sharing him with so many. Our thoughts are with you now as you suffer through this loss. Take comfort in the fact that he lives on in a million ways—in all the accomplishments of the lives he touched that go on all over the world.

—Sara Ely Hulse ’92

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I remember Mr. Hamblet was always approachable and smiling, knowing students’ names when they didn’t think he did. I had the opportunity to work closely with him as senior prefect and I always felt comfortable running issues by him and respected his opinion. On a little side note, my sister also went to St. George’s and she and her friends won a sleepover at the Hamblets’ house. She told me it was really fun and they made cookies for them and rented movies! They made St. George’s feel like home and Mr. Hamblet will truly be missed.

—Liv (Wilson) Thompson ’99

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For over a decade, Charles Hamblet was the friendly face of St George’s that greeted eager new students embarking on the first step of their young lives. He was a firm presence for three of my four wonderful years on the Hilltop. When I think of him, I see him standing tall with a warm smile in the front hall or at the front of assembly asking us all to quiet down so we can hear the day’s announcements. He worked tirelessly for the cause of St. George’s. Everywhere there is evidence of his hard work—new dorms and new facilities. When I was one of the senior prefects I remember being included in the design meetings for the new dorm. Mr. Hamblet always wanted to hear what we thought. He also felt it was important to reach out far and wide to increase the student base. My small class of 80 came from the east, west, north, south, Europe and even the Middle East. He believed in an education that extended outside the classroom—a place where we could meet people from every walk of life so that we could all learn from each other.

He left the Hilltop a better place than he found it. It is something that we all strive for—and, in his case, he succeeded. Charles Hamblet affected generations of Dragons who can say that he made a difference in their lives. It is an impressive legacy. I thank him for all the time he gave for our benefit—time he was seen on the sidelines at games, time he spent working with students

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When he became headmaster in our sixth-form year, Mr. Hamblet mentioned that he missed his role as a teacher; he missed having direct interaction with students. Perhaps this was why he was entirely open to discussing any issue with any student at even the most Continued on page 8

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inconvenient hour. In dealing with thorny issues he also had a deft ability to be simultaneously frank and gracious. Mr. Hamblet may have forfeited being a teacher, but he took on the demanding role of a mentor, and in doing so he was a powerful educator. He possessed the exact qualities that the school needed to lead the 350 students and staff who had endured the uncertainty of three headmasters in as many years.

—Josh Gillespie ’90

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In the beginning of my sophomore year, I remember receiving my class list and discovering that I had been assigned Mr. Hamblet as my Algebra 2 instructor. Now, at that time, you might as well have told me that I had been given a semester-long pass to proctored study hall. I thought to myself: I have the headmaster of the school as my teacher?! This can’t be good. Of course, it was one of the best classes I ever had and it had everything to do with Mr. Hamblet. I looked forward to class. He inspired me to believe in my potential and myself.

Charles was a great mentor and teacher, and I will forever be indebted to him for his constant encouragement and guidance during my time on the Hilltop. He will be greatly missed.

—Jacob Jeffries-Steele ’97

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I remember him fondly as a father to all students.

My time as senior prefect led me to understand what a tough role he had to play with respect to being headmaster/head of discipline. Like a father, he was put in the position of both desiring us all to be able to freely make our own mistakes because he knew this would be how we would learn our lifelong lessons, but yet he also sincerely wished he could convince us all that minding the rules would lead us to success without having to bear the consequences. We grew up into young adults under his guidance whether we recognized it or not; I know he thought of us all as his children.

I will never forget his advice and guidance during our lunch meetings each week.

—Anika Leerssen ’96

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Continued from page 7

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Mr. Hamblet was a remarkable leader and mentor. As senior prefect, I was inspired by his dedication to the SG family. He helped me grasp the importance of service leadership, as he established bonds with everyone that he served (students, faculty and staff).

He learned our names, attended games, assisted with math assignments, participated in form meetings, and always offered guidance and words of encouragement.

As our leader, he understood that each class and student was unique and respected our differences.

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Though we will miss Mr. Hamblet, we’ll continue to celebrate the memories we shared with him.

—Tiffani Thomas ’00

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As senior prefect (’94) I had many interactions with Mr. Hamblet, both in my duties as prefect and through his frequent visits to the basketball court to cheer us on (and, on occasion, to remind the team of his timeless three-point shot). As a prefect, I recall very specifically the amount of respect he showed me.

So much so that I often felt as though I was his peer.

For example, each day when he would transition the school assembly to me to lead the student announcements. His confidence in me was critical during an important stage of my life and I will always remember his contributions to my development into adulthood. As a team, Mr. and Mrs. Hamblet defined what it meant to be a Dragon: unwavering school pride and constant support of one another. I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to be a student at SG during the Hamblets’ tenure and I offer my deepest sympathies to their family.

—Fred House ’94

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Memorial service for Hamblet recalls a ‘compassionate leader’ Hundreds return to St. George’s to remember our former headmaster

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undreds journeyed to St. George’s on a cold, sunny Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010, for a memorial service for Headmaster Emeritus Chuck Hamblet in the St. George’s Chapel to recall the 10th headmaster of the school as a man of integrity, unfailingly committed to his family and to his schools.

Among the three eulogists at the service were former chair of the Board of Trustees Betsy Michel, Chuck’s son Todd, and Chris Harlow, a 45-year friend of Chuck’s who called him “the best kind of friend a person could hope to have.”

Harlow and Chuck had known each other since they attended graduate school in New Jersey in the 1960s, and shared time with their respective families each summer in Maine.

“The usual agenda of the night was laughter,” Harlow said of those summer evenings, “… but besides the great times we had together, the one thing I saw was integrity, a deep commitment to core values: generosity, compassion, commitment.”

“He was a lifelong learner, a master teacher. When he talked about the students at his school, he always talked about their countless opportunities.”

Michel met Chuck in May 1988, when she was the chair of the search committee to hire a new headmaster. She recalled getting the names of more than two dozen of Hamblet’s colleagues as references.

“I called them all,” Michel said. “And 30 pages of notes made clear that if we were lucky to get him, Chuck was our guy.”

Michel said the school wanted “an insider who would enlighten the school, who would understand the potential and strengths of a small school.”

“I knew almost right away that we were in good hands,” she said.

When Todd Hamblet ascended to the lectern, he first thanked those in attendance for “an incredible outpouring of support,” and then turned to his mother, Carol Hamblet, who served St. George’s as director of student services. Carol and Chuck were married for 42 years.

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“Mom, you worked tirelessly to support Dad throughout his career,” he said. “Thank you.”

Todd recalled his father as a sage advisor, a consummate teacher who taught his children—Todd and his older brother Rick—to be proud of their accomplishments “but never to gloat,” and to seek fairness in all situations. He also taught them a series of life lessons—11 of which he wanted to reveal at the memorial service. “And Dad would’ve been quick to point out that’s a prime number,” he said of Hamblet, who spent his career before and during his headmasterships as a math teacher.

The list was a mixture of the humorous and the poignant.

“Dad said you can never get to the airport early enough to catch your flight,” he said.

On the golf course, his father “never met a mulligan he didn’t like.”

He was also a man who lived his life believing that if you “take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves—and dad took care of the little things,” he said. On Sundays the gentlemanly Hamblet could often be seen walking the St. George’s campus with Carol and his dog Opal, picking up pieces of litter left on the playing fields from the games the day before.

He was a basketball player, Todd said, who knew “a drop shot from the baseline was demoralizing to your opponent,” and that if he was watching TV, someone soon “would be more than happy to get up and get a bowl of ice cream” for him.

Throughout their lives, Todd said, his father taught him and his brother—and all his students—to be their best.

And he always, always put family first.

At the end of his illness—an inoperable brain tumor—he “refused to stop traveling to see his grandchildren.”

Todd looked up. “Dad,” he said. “We miss you, we love you—and we’ll take care of Mom for you.”

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Mary

Becoming

Mary, at age 2, chases rabbits at the foster home where she lived in Fuzhou, China.

Her foster mother, Mei Ling, looks on.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF

MARY BEHAN ’10.

Adopted by an Irish-Catholic family, a girl born in China reconnects with her past

BY SUZANNE MCGRADY St. George’s Bulletin Editor

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Different Takes C

H A P E L

T

A L K S

1992, Jiangxi Province, Southeast China—

BY MARY BEHAN ’10

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he was a mother looking for

another mother to care for her baby girl—and so she crept

through the growing darkness and left her baby, warmly swaddled, in plain sight, on the steps of a public building in Fuzhou. Someone will find her, she thought. Someone will give her a good life…

The story of how Mary Katherine Behan came to the United States is not unlike that of many others. From 1985-2008, Americans adopted 67,842 children from China, according to the U.S. Department of State. Still, adoption, especially from a country as culturally unique and distant as China, has all the emotional intensity as most other life-altering events. And unless you’ve been on the inside, you may not really know the challenges and joys these families have experienced.

Here’s one mother’s story: Tish Curtis Behan always wanted a big family. She is one of four children in her family, an Irish Catholic brood that settled in Newport and Portsmouth. Her husband, Mike, is one of 12. However some medical challenges were getting in the way. After nine pregnancies and the death of an infant daughter, the Behans were blessed with two boys: Michael and Garrett. Still, Tish and Mike couldn’t let go of their dream. “It came to us very easily that we wanted to adopt,” Tish recalls.

In 1994, the couple decided to initiate the adoption process. At the time, their sons were 4-years old and 10 Continued on page 14

Following is a chapel talk delivered on Dec. 1, 2009.

Four Irish-Americans and a Chinese girl walked into a restaurant. …

If you are waiting for a punchline, that wasn’t a joke: It’s just my family whenever we go out to dinner.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mary and I was adopted from China when I was two and a half.

I’ve always wondered what people think when my family and I are out together. Do they see what I see—two parents and their three children? Or do they see two Americans, their two sons, and mentally check me off as my older or younger brother’s girlfriend? Do they even think about what they see, or am I just obsessing over the minor details?

For a long time, I hoped I was just obsessing, because it was those sorts of questions that made me feel insecure about my place in my family. Those questions made me doubt myself, and, as cliché as it seems, they made me wonder about my identity.

It began with exasperated sarcasm.

“Wait, so, are you Japanese or Chinese?”

“Neither,” I would say, “I’m Irish.”

There would be a pause.

And then, “Wait, really?”

My general answer to The Question was, “No, not really,” but if I was feeling particularly irritated, I would say, “What—you couldn’t tell?”

Eventually the sardonic remark, accompanied by a roll of the eyes and perfected deadpan, became my way of ignoring a question that, for some reason, bothered me.

It bothered me because even though I was a Chinese girl adopted by an Irish-Catholic family, I did not want to be categorized as “Asian” by other people when, for the better part of my life, I did not even categorize myself as Asian. Friends’ lighthearted comments about my “Asianness” were actually funny, but when someone, in all seriousness, asked me about my nationality, I always felt offended on some level—I did not care what I was, so what gave other people the right to question?

In the summer of 2007, after my freshman year, I traveled to Beijing to study with a Choate Rosemary Hall program. There, while all of my white American friends called me Fu Ping, my Continued on page 15

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months. The agency they were working with connected American families with children from Romania, Uzbekistan or Belarus. The Behans wanted a toddler, aged 2 or 3, between the two boys.

Above: In 2009, Tish Behan and her daughter Mary traveled to China, where Mary met her foster family for the first time.

Opposite page: The Wang family never forgot Mary, whom they called Jing Dan.

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Meanwhile in China, a One Child Policy, implemented by the Chinese Government in 1979, was having devastating effects on the social and economic structure of the country. Hundreds of thousands of baby girls, most just days old, were being abandoned in public places— busy streets, railway stations, and in front of public buildings—so that they would quickly be found. Baby boys were prized because they would carry on the ancestral name—and take care of their parents in their old age. And so the abandoned baby girls were being shuttled off to orphanages, now bursting at the seams. In places like Fuzhou, where many families lived a hardscrabble life in one- and two-room rowhouses without indoor plumbing, the orphanages employed foster mothers in the neighborhood to help take care of the children.

Some of the children were being adopted interna-

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tionally, however the road was still relatively untrodden when the agency the Behans were working with called Tish in January 1995 to say they’d just been cleared to arrange adoptions from China. Would they be interested?

Tish and Mike had to think about it.

“Now when the five of us walked down the street it would be pretty obvious we had an adopted child,” she said.

Tish was aware the dynamic would likely bring some challenges. “But it didn’t take us 24 hours to decide,” she says.

It took four weeks to redo the paperwork to apply for a Chinese adoption. On Feb 28, 1995, the government had the Behans’ application.

At the time, Tish was a guidance counselor at the Forest Ave. Elementary School; Mike was growing his construction business, Behan Bros. Inc. on Aquidneck Ave., in Middletown.

Tish says she was on the phone almost daily with the adoption agency.

Then came Tuesday, March 28, 1995.

Tish was in Mike’s office when the fax came through. The woman at the adoption agency said it was coming…

A tiny round face engulfed in quilted clothing.

Sparkly dark eyes. A baby halfway around the world in Jiangxi Province, China (population: 40 million).

As she headed to work at the local orphanage, Mei Ling’s husband Yin Fa picked up Jing Dan, meaning “smart crystal,” from the yard where she was playing with the rabbits, and headed out into the fields with her in a sling across his back. The baby, who’d come into the orphanage just a day old, as most, loved to chase the rabbits around the yard. Still, she was eager to join Yin Fa in the fields, where she would help him place the harvested vegetables into baskets, or sit and play among the plants.

Jing Dan was the first baby from the local orphanage the Wangs had taken care of. She had been called Fu Ping by the orphanage workers, but the foster family immediately made her their own, renaming her, and soon she and her personality—her desires and demands—became a part of their everyday lives. Still, they weren’t prepared for how much they would love her as their own, how seamless their affections would become. The family’s own children—son Qiang, 10, and daughter Jun Ming, 8—had quickly become attached to the girl. Little Jing Dan was a bright spirit in the tiny house, with one main room and two tiny bedrooms—no kitchen, no bathroom, where they could hear the neighbors on both sides of the row house through thin walls. As she grew into a toddler, Jing Dan would climb up next to the children and pretend to help them with their homework. At night Mei Ling and Yin Fa would let Jing Dan climb into bed with them.

Jing Dan was always itchy and Yin Fa would put her to sleep by scratching her back. Unlike another infant girl whom they took care of for a short while until she was adopted, Jing Dan would always be theirs, they thought.

She was 2 now, no longer a baby—a little girl. No one in America would be asking after her now …

Continued on page 16

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Chinese host family insisted on calling me Mary. It was their attempt to make me seem more American despite my obvious Chinese appearance, because having an American in the home was “exotic.” I had grown up in a Roman-Catholic middle school, where, to my classmates, everything about me screamed “Asian!;” this was the first time I had ever met anyone who considered me just plain American. It was a strange concept and more than a little odd, but I liked it.

When I came home from China that summer, I experienced another “first” in regards to my race. It was my cousin’s wedding, and someone I had never seen before, but who knew my large adopted family, decided to go down the line of cousins with whom I was sitting and play guess-the-parents. To my cousins, she said, “You’re Bridget’s, right? You are, too. And you’re Susan and Chris’s,” while my younger brother received a, “You’re Tish and Mike’s.”

She stopped at me. Her blank stare and hesitation lasted only a moment, but it was a moment too long.

“Tish and Mike’s,” I supplied hastily.

“Oh.” She couldn’t tell… But then, I tried to tell myself, why should she be able to? I mean, it’s not like I was ever going to hear,“You have your father’s eyes,” or “You look just like your mother” from anyone. Despite knowing all this intellectually, I still felt hurt, rather than annoyed or uncomfortable. That one incident kept replaying in my mind; I was incapable of just letting it go as I did most other comments about my race.

It made me think.

What am I? I came closer to answering that question the summer after my sophomore year, when I learned through awkward conversation and Continued on page 17

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Above: The Wang family took care of Mary (middle) until she was 2 and a half.

Opposite page: Mary looks at old pictures after meeting her foster mother, Mei Ling (right), and foster sister, Jun Ming (with her daughter, left) for the first time in China last summer.

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May 1995, Fuzhou, China—The day they never imagined has come. With tears in their eyes, Mei Ling and Jun Ming pack Jing Dan into the car and the orphanage director drives the three down the rambling dirt road from Fuzhou to Nanchang where they will turn over Jing Dan to her new family. It takes seven hours to get to the hotel.

After leaving the States April 26, Tish and Mike take four flights, meet a translator from Ohio in Hong Kong, then take another short flight into Nanchang.

The hotel where the Behans arrive is bustling and noisy. All the signs are in Mandarin. Settling into their room, Tish lays out some toys on the bed and hears a knock on the door.

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Three adults— Mei Ling and Jun Ming and the orphanage director—enter with Jing Dan, who immediately goes to the bed. She has the biggest dimples Tish has ever seen. Jing Dan offers her new acquaintances raisins out of a box. Everyone heads down to the hotel lobby where they find a place for lunch.

Lunch is pleasant, Tish recalls, and she gets to play with Jing Dan on her lap.

Later, the six head back to the hotel elevator, where they ascend to their respective floors. Tish is carrying Jing Dan, whom the couple has already decided to name Mary, in her arms. The foster mother and sister are also staying the night in the hotel, on another floor.

When the Behans reach their floor, the orphanage director pushes Mike and Tish into the hallway. She pushes Mei Ling back as the woman screams hysterically. Jun Ming and Jing Dan begin to cry …

Back in the hotel room, Tish wants to give her new baby a bath. The water is terrifying. Jing Dan has never been submerged in water before, but Tish doesn’t know it, and the baby is crying at the top of her lungs. Meanwhile Jun Ming is wandering the halls trying to find Jing Dan. She hears her crying and knocks on the Behans’ hotel room door. Tish allows her to come in and help give the toddler a sponge bath.

It’ll be like this for years.“She definitely experienced post-traumatic stress syndrome. She screamed and screamed at doors for a long time,” Tish says of the first year Mary was in the United States. “That’s how she would go to sleep. Just screaming and crying at a door.”

The night terrors were incessant: five nights a week, for more than 10 years. No one could really help. The family got used to hearing Mary scream in the night.

August 2008, Middletown, R.I.— After being hired by Tish, Bruce Yu, a private investigator in Nanchang, reports back that he’s found Mary’s foster family in Fuzhou.

With the help of St. George’s student Huanmin Hu ’10, a one-year student from Beijing who can serve as a translator, the families start to correspond. Mary wants to know: “What was I like? What did I eat? What did I like to play?”

The letters Tish and Mary get back, however, are not the usual pen-pal fare. “Why do they love you?” the foster mother asks Mary in one correspondence. “Why do they want you?”

“They had an eerie quality,” Tish says. “We didn’t have any idea the trauma they went through after Mary left.”

Something aches in Tish, as well, when she thinks about the family’s suffering. She remembers her own and Mike’s dreams: that they got what they wanted— they got to be whole, they got to love Mary, and get love back, because they got to take Mary home.

Bruce Yu tells Tish the foster mother didn’t eat properly for months after Mary left. The whole vilContinued on page 18

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random speculation that my roommate at the Middlebury Monterey Language Academy was from the same orphanage as I was. Later, when I returned home from camp, my mom and I set out to see if we could find other girls from my orphanage— or maybe even from the foster family that took care of me after my brief stint as a newborn in the orphanage. Our investigation, including the exchange of part-English, part-Chinese, and part-Babelfish Online Translator emails, ended with a trip to China at the beginning of last summer, and a foray into the first two-and-a-half years of my life there. We planned to visit the relatively small city of Fuzhou, in Jiangxi Province.

While there, I found memories of a toddler who chased rabbits, pretended to do schoolwork with her elder siblings and practiced making sad faces. I heard tales of a girl who knew she was leaving and told her daddy she was going to America to make a lot of money to buy him a drink, and stories of a newly adopted child who sat at the hotel door and screamed until she cried herself to sleep.

I came face-to-face with the forgotten—with the physical remnants of my past. I found an old, one-story cement house riddled with overgrown weeds and traditional good-luck signs pasted on the sides of the door in faded red. I saw a broken crib kept long after its occupant departed for America, and a garden through which a toddler used to traipse under the illusion she was helping to grow things.

And, finally, I met a family so full of love, that even after they endured the pain of watching me leave, they cared for 13 more infants, ending with a girl they found on their doorstep. I met a mother, a father, and two older siblings who despite 14 years and a language barrier still called me their daughter and sister. I met a family that made me feel unbearably guilty: I wanted to be able to tell them I loved them and remembered them, because they so obviously loved and rememContinued on page 19

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lage was in mourning. The foster grandmother died six months later; the family claims it was from a “broken heart.”

June 2009, en route to Fuzhou, China—Mary is ready to go back. Now Mary and Tish, along with Huanmin, are on a journey back to Mary’s birthplace.

Above: Mary takes her first Chinese language class at St. George’s.

Opposite page: Mary and her foster mother, Mei Ling, visited the Great Wall last summer. It was the first time Mei Ling had been there.

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June 2009, Fuzhou, China—Mei Ling begins the journey to see her beloved Jing Dan. She hasn’t seen the baby she cared for since that day in the Nanchang hotel when the orphanage director held her back in the elevator, the doors closed on a whole chapter of her life, and the crushing pain set in. Now she knows she’s out there, so close. She must see her as soon as she’s within reach. It doesn’t matter that the ride from Fuzhou to Beijing will take 30 hours, and that she can only afford the car with a wooden bench for a seat.

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June 2009, Beijing, China—Huanmin and her mother, Wendy, acting as liaisons, reserve a room at a local Beijing restaurant for the reunion to take place. A highly respected Chinese family with means, education, and enormous hearts, the Hus are just the right people to help the Behans navigate the complicated cultural territory between New England and rural China.

Jun Ming, now married with a 2-year-old of her own, will come with her baby. She’s been living in Beijing, where she studied English specifically so that she could try one day to find Jing Dan. Mei Ling will have her adopted daughter, a 6year-old the family has taken in—another baby girl, who was left out in the middle of the street when she was born.

She’ll be carsick the entire journey from Fuzhou.

The restaurant table is set with starched white linens and the Behans and Hus have arrived first. Then, travel-weary, but eager, Mei Ling appears in the door.

Tish realizes she hasn’t really changed in 15 years, since

she too last saw her at the hotel elevator, crying.

Mary is shy, but gets up to greet the woman who still loves her, the child she once was.

Mei Ling surrounds Mary with a hug, but Mary’s body stiffens against the affection.

The day is filled with sightseeing: Mei Ling, though now in her 60s, has never seen the Great Wall. They say goodbye the next day. Mei Ling will travel the 30 hours back home with her daughter, but the reunion is not over. The day after tomorrow, Tish, Mary and Huanmin are scheduled to spend three days in Fuzhou.

June 2009, Downtown Fuzhou, China—Travel in China has improved immensely since Tish was last in the country 14 years ago. In fact, the road from Nanchang to Fuzhou is now a highway, and Tish, Mary and Huanmin can easily take a plane from Beijing to Fuzhou.

Qiang, the foster brother Mary lived with until she was 2, picks up the three from a hotel in the inner city. It doesn’t take long to get back to the place where Mary once chased the rabbits around the yard. Qiang is married now and has a baby of his own. He owns the family’s first car and has a home with a bathroom inside.

The car arrives in the driveway of the son’s new house, just down the street from where the family once lived with Mary in the red apartment, now abandoned—though Mary’s crib, 16 years later, still rests in the corner. It doesn’t take long for a small crowd to gather. Jun Ming has made the journey from Beijing.

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bered me. I wanted them to be more than strangers to me so badly that I cried when I knew no one was watching.

And yet…

There was something missing. As selfish as it makes me seem, there was a whisper of disappointment that only I was able to sense, a feeling that some integral part of what I was looking for just wasn’t there.

When I went to visit my foster family, I was told many things about myself—but I was not told who I was. I realized, after the trip, that I should not have expected to find the answer to my question of self-identity with my foster family. They could not tell me if I was Chinese, or American, or perhaps even half-Chinese and halfLeprechaun; that was something only I could figure out.

But I did not know where to begin.

Strangely enough, the beginning of enlightenment came later in the summer, as the start of school drew close and I finally picked up my copy of “Confucius Lives Next Door.”

It was ultimately a conversation with my mother about the summer reading book and the campus speaker Cathy Bao Bean that really settled things for me. The conversation went something like this: “So, I heard there was a speaker,” my mom said casually while I was impatiently trying to hang up the phone on her.

“Yeah,” I said unenthusiastically. “Cathy Bao Bean.”

“Well, what did she talk about?”

“I don’t know. Being Chinese and American?”

“Well, Mary,” my mom said in that reproachful tone of hers, “don’t you think that’s kind of pertinent to you?”

I thought about it. Cathy Bao Bean is Chinese. I’m Chinese. Cathy Bao Bean is an American citizen. So am I. Therefore, two plus two Continued on page 21

Then, from out of nowhere, fireworks explode along the ground and everybody is screaming because they don’t know what it is. In China, fireworks are usually saved for the arrival of important political figures—so everyone’s emotional, with tears.

Mary’s overwhelmed by the attention. Her shyness creeps back in and she stands behind Tish, who’s hugging everyone. “I’m not even aware of what’s going on, but she keeps staying farther and farther behind me,” Tish remembers.

Continued on page 20

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Above: The Behan family Christmas 2009: Michael, Tish, Mary, Garrett and Mike.

Opposite page: Huanmin Hu ’10 (right) from Beijing who studied at St. George’s in the 2008-09 school year, accompanied Mary and Tish on their trip back to China in 2009. Hu’s mother, Wen, arranged the lunch in Beijing where Mary met her foster mother and sister for the first time in many years.

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“We approach the apartment and they have watermelon and vegetables, and they’re so happy to see us— and Mary’s withdrawing at every moment, getting deeper and deeper.”

As Tish and Mary walk four blocks, back into the poorer section, to the red building with the crib, Mei Ling and Yin Fa shout out to neighbors, “Jing Dan is back! Jing Dan is back!” Seventy- and 80-year-old people rush out to get a glimpse of Mary; they all remember her. Tish, Mary and Huanmin stop at many of the open houses which look like open-door garages and sit down on primitive stools. Strangers offer them cucumbers, raw eggplants. They just want to touch Mary and take pictures with her.

“She’s not white!”

“Why isn’t she taller? they ask each other.

“Why hasn’t she become American?”

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Tish, Mary and Huanmin spend three days traveling back and forth between the hotel in the inner city, sightseeing with the foster family and sharing some meals. One night there’s a big dinner for Mary at the new house in Fuzhou. The grandfather, 90 years old and nearly blind, climbs four flights of stairs to see Mary. Everyone wants to know if Mary is OK. Does she go to school? What kind of a house does she live in? Does her family have a car?

Mary happily shows them photos of St. George’s, of the family home, the car. They seem comforted now—if not in awe.

Back in the hotel room that night, Mary begins to cry. She says she feels no connection. “I was so moved by how much they really, really loved her, so it was painful,” Tish recalls.

Mary just wanted to go home.

“I knew she was going to face some sort of identity crisis.” says Tish. “Most children do with adoption— wanting to know, ‘Who am I? What am I?’” For Mary to come to terms with her history now is a blessing, Tish says.

“Even though it’s been very painful, and I’ve been sad a lot with it, I also feel really fortunate that there is some resolution. I feel she’s more at peace than what she was.

“She feels good about who she is right now.”

Middletown, R.I., August 2009— Mary Katherine Behan is in her bedroom: the teenage sanctuary of a bookish 17-year-old, with novels of every era packing the shelves, and notes tacked to a bulletin board on her closet.

The computer is shut off.

Her college essay is done— approximately 1,200 words about the American life she’s living and the Chinese life she doesn’t much remember.

The night terrors have subsided.

She falls peacefully asleep.

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must equal — “No,” I told my mom frankly. “Not really. She’s actually Chinese.”

What I meant was, Cathy Bao Bean grew up in a Chinese household, and she learned those Confucian values that Reid writes about in “Confucius Lives Next Door.”

AHA! my mind all but screamed at me. So this is the answer, it continued. This is who you are.

Perhaps it seems narrow-minded, but I don’t identify with the Chinese, socially or culturally. Like many Americans, I don’t even fully understand their society or their culture—I just look like them.

So I would like to thank the author of “Confucius Lives Next Door,” Cathy Bao Bean, and my mom for guiding me to that elusive identity of mine: I am Mary Katherine Behan, which is about as Irish a name as you can get. I stand at an intimidating height of four-feet-eleveninches—and, just like the rest of my family, I am American.

Embodied in my idea of being an American is that I have the capacity to be whoever I want to be, regardless of what I look like. The world can assume I speak fluent Chinese, or Japanese, or Korean, or am good at math, simply for the fact that I am of Asian descent. I don’t mind anymore—because I know who I am.

A few weeks ago, Garrett (Sider ’10) posed the question “What are we made of?” Now, I hope what I have had to say has gotten you to think “Who are we?” Your answer might not come to you dramatically, and once you stumble upon it, it might change.

Who knows? Maybe next year’s summer reading assignment will tell you who you are.

Ma r y B eha n ’10 is a day student from Middletown, R.I. She can be reached at Mary_Behan@stgeorges.edu.

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“Lew was, as we all know, wonderfully generous to St. George’s – much more than anyone knew ... though he never sought public acclaim or even recognition for all that he did for the school.”

Lewis N. Madeira ’39 Trustee 1920-2009

PHOTO BY

WILLIAM MERCER

Longtime friend and colleague Betsy Michel P’85, ’89, former chair of the St. George’s Board of Trustees, delivered the following eulogy at a memorial service for Lew Madeira on Saturday, Dec. 12, in the St. George’s Chapel.

I Former Chair of the Board of Trustees Betsy Michel, the late Headmaster Emeritus Chuck Hamblet and Lewis Madeira ’39 at the Centennial Celebration in 1996.

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first met Lew Madeira in the late 80s – shortly after I joined the St. George’s Board of Trustees.

I got to know him after I became Chair of the Board in 1989. That was when I truly became a “member of the club.” Though like some others, he may at first have felt it odd that a woman would chair the board of his old boys’ school, he, like so many of you who preceded me, welcomed me, looked after me, supported me and became my lifelong friend.

Lew joined the Board of Trustees in 1965. He served as chair of the building and grounds committee, as treasurer and as president. He served as an honorary trustee from 1980 until his death last September. In his case, however, “honorary” certainly didn’t mean out to pasture. In all the years that I knew

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him, he was a towering presence at this school both literally and figuratively.

Lew was, as we all know, wonderfully generous to St. George’s – much more than anyone knew. I’m quite sure he had the thickest file of all in the Development Office – most of a whole file drawer all to himself. I’ve seen it. It’s full of copies of thank you notes, though he never sought public acclaim or even recognition for all that he did for the school.

Many of Lew’s gifts were relatively small, timely, crucial – not at all glamorous. He chaired the Building and Grounds Committee and was justifiably proud of his very practical knowledge of things like plumbing and heating – knowledge gleaned from his experiences with Amtrol, the company he led until his retirement in 1991. In fact, he may have been most at home toiling in

the boiler room with Ray Ottiano, his good friend who was for many years the school’s director of maintenance. I’m not even sure what the phrase means, but I’m told that Lew bragged he could “sweat a mean joint” with the best of them.

Other gifts were big gifts – just as timely, just as crucial. In 1988, as we were starting a search for a new head of school, the board determined it was necessary to build a separate Head’s residence. We didn’t have the money. I think the entire endowment back then was only $9 million or thereabouts. We just knew we needed the house – and needed to make the decision public. It was Lew who – completely unsolicited – stepped up with the gift that enabled us to build Merrick House right away. And it was Lew who in 1992 created a remainder trust that will one day endow the salaries of the Head of School and the Chaplain. It was the first big gift, the launch really, of the Centennial Campaign, and we hadn’t even asked him for anything.

Early in the game, he walked into Chuck’s office, told Chuck to sit down, told him what he planned to do – then changed the subject and they went for a walk.

Lew was direct – he always got right to the point.

He didn’t want a lot of fuss – maybe it embarrassed him a little. He had a nose for seeing what needed to be done and then doing it – that was satisfaction enough. I know he was pleased, but I know too that it took a bit of arm twisting to get him to agree to have the theater in the Arts Center named in his honor.

Lew, as well, was wonderfully generous to people. I used to call on Marge Wheeler – she and her husband George had spent a lifetime at the school. Marge couldn’t get around on her own – she required a wheel-chair.

On one occasion, she told me that Lew had come in earlier in the afternoon – right after a board meeting – and she was still in shock. “Marge, what you need to get around better is a van and I’m getting you one.” No discussion, he didn’t stay long. He knew what was needed and that’s what he did.

Lew was generous too in his support of me and of Chuck and the school – even when he didn’t always agree with a course of action. That’s often not easy – certainly not a given. You always knew where he stood.

I know, for example, that he didn’t like the design of the then proposed new dormitories to the north along

the athletic fields. He said they reminded him of a stable – a fancy stable, but a stable nonetheless. He went out and hired his own architect with a different, more traditional, scheme to present to the board meeting at which a final vote on the dorms was scheduled. We considered his plans and voted for the stable – and Lew supported us. No small thing. I always appreciated and never took that support for granted – nor did Chuck.

Especially, Lew was fun. He was irreverent at times, utterly unpretentious, with what one friend has characterized as “an earthy view of social customs.” I remember his telling me when the Reed family was trying to sell the “public” property on Jupiter Island that they were asking much too much money.

“The only thing worth anything down here is the ambience – and that’s us.” I enjoyed the visits to Florida – we played golf or just hung out. Sometimes a quiet dinner – sometimes he and Joanie would host a St. George’s gathering. She had married into St. George’s but took us on gracefully and warmly. There was something about Lew that lit up the room when he was happy. I loved his smile and his twinkle – the private wink when someone did or said something funny. He was a good man with a great big heart.

Chuck and Carol can’t be here today. I visited with them earlier this fall. Remembering Lew, we have been sad together, and we have talked about this memorial service – about what I might say for all of us. We agreed, and I don’t think it is an exaggeration to state that St. George’s would not be the school it is today were it not for Lew Madeira. That’s the fact and we will be ever grateful. As I was driving to Newport yesterday I couldn’t help but think how very appropriate to say goodbye in this Chapel that he loved – at this school that he loved. In this place on the Hilltop where so many loved him right back.

Thank you, Lewie – thanks for it all.

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“He demanded intellectual curiosity and excellence from his students.”

Gilbert Burnett, Jr., Vincent Astor ’10 Chair in Science and Head of the Science Department (1958-1960, 1966-1990), Emeritus 1921-2009

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ur esteemed former faculty member and dedicated member of the St. George’s community, Gilbert Burnett, Jr., died in his beloved home across the street from campus on Sunday, Sept. 13. He was 88.

Mr. Burnett, Vincent Astor ’10 Chair in Science and Head of the Science Department emeritus, served the school loyally for nearly 30 years, from 1958-1960 and from 1966-1990. But he was so much more than an esteemed former faculty member.

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Always the idealist, a true patriot to the core, Mr. Burnett was an ardent environmentalist who loved his country and our school with a full heart.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Aug. 5, 1921, he graduated from Princeton University in 1943. A valiant member of what journalist Tom Brokaw dubbed “the Greatest Generation,” he served as an intelligence officer in the Office of Strategic Services and worked behind Japanese lines in China and Indochina. He later joined the CIA, where he was

engaged in scientific intelligence operations worldwide. He frequently held court among his colleagues, pronouncing his ideas about the state of the nation, world affairs and environmental responsibility. He was a teacher at several independent schools, including Punahou School, Hawaii Preparatory School, and Phillips Andover Academy, before he came to St. George’s.

Many, especially those who shared his passions, looked to him for guidance, and respected him for his experience.

To his students, Mr. Burnett was a serious and revered figure, whose exacting nature and high standards often inspired peak performance.

Upon his retirement in 1990, several of his former students honored him with the establishment of a fund to support a series of annual talks on the environment, the Burnett Lecture Series, which continues to educate students about threats to the health of the planet and strategies for preserving the balance of nature.

The lectures were a continuing source of pride and interest to Gil, who faithfully attended each one up until and including last year’s talk by U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse P’12 on global warming.

He himself served as head of SG’s “Arts and Lectures” series, bringing a number of notable speakers, including the Russian dissident poet Alexander Ginsburg and Carter Brown of the National Gallery, to campus. On the night before Prize Day each year, he presided over the induction of new members of the St. George’s Chapter of the Cum Laude Society.

To those on the St. George’s campus in recent years, Mr. Burnett in his retirement was a beloved figure who visited campus frequently for special events and who walked across the fields and past our stately buildings with a nostalgic grace.

Mr. Burnett is survived by two sons, Jefferson Burnett ’75 and Mike Burnett; and a daughter, Hildy Potts. He was predeceased by his wife Daphne Burnett, who died in 2004.

A memorial service for Mr. Burnett will take place in the St. George’s Chapel on Saturday, May 15, 2010, during Reunion Weekend.

Remembering Mr. Burnett “My first introduction to Mr. Burnett was a note in my mailbox. It was on one of the small strips of yellow paper he used to write on with a blue felt-tip marker. He was applauding my performance in the school musical. Each morning during the play, there was another small piece of fan mail in my box! Thus began a life-long friendship of notes and letters written in his nearly illegible scrawl. As a teacher, he demanded intellectual curiosity and excellence from his students.

He insisted I take his psychology course and that I do well in it, so I did. I spent many evenings in the Burnetts’ living room enjoying great conversation and drinking Hu Kwa tea. He wrote to me at college with lists of what courses I MUST take! Later on when I was up to my ears in childrearing, he sent me recommendations of what “I must absolutely read if I wanted to be “in-the-know” at all.”

For many years I took my kids to Newport and we would all go to the beach together. He was the teacher that changed my life forever.

He was a loving, generous, brilliant, wonderful friend and I will really, really miss him.”

—Edie Woodland Lodi ’76

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Life lessons from Pops

BY POLLY MURRAY ’10 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Jan. 12, 2010.

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Polly Murray ’10 and her grandfather, Davis C. Howes.

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eraclitus once said, “The only constant is change.” This dumbfounded me, and I refused to let the opposite of consistency be the only constant in my life.

I have realized over time however, that whether it’s a new year, a new class, or a switch from white bread to wheat bread, whether we’re getting our license at 16, or having it taken away at 87, change is always there for us if we’re willing to take advantage of it.

I call my grandfather Pops. Not like, “Yo, Pops!”— just Pops. I’m not sure exactly why, but I always have. I guess it fits nicely with my name for my grandmother.

To everyone except my older brother and me, she is

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Polly, but we call her “Voo Voo.” Those of you who speak Portuguese may be wondering why I call her “grandfather.” Again, it’s hard to say why, but I suspect she thought it would be hilarious. Pops used to call my brother and me “chief.” I don’t recall ever hearing him mutter the name Polly, but somehow I always know when he’s trying to talk to me. He leans in and says, “Now when I was in the Navy…”—and I’m captured from there.

Pops is 87. From his shuffle of a walk and his brand new pacemaker, his years are apparent, but if you were to simply hold a conversation with him, you wouldn’t be so sure. Over Christmas, I got to hear numerous stories of his days in the Navy, and while I tend to forget the details, there is one thing about his stories that strikes me each time. He remembers everything— absolutely every detail of every breakfast in the Battle of

Normandy. I can only remember what I had for breakfast because I usually have the same thing. So while to nearly every person who encounters Pops he seems to be the stereotypical “senior citizen,” he has been able to take advantage of the pieces of his life that are still in prime condition, and that is something I think we could all benefit from. The great thing about St. George’s is that it gives us the chance to do so many different things. I would have picked a more exciting word than “things,” but it’s the only word that fits with everything we do here. Where else can you sing in a choir of 100 right after a hockey practice and a calculus class? While such a busy schedule is daunting to some, I find it exhilarating, albeit stressful. We spend so little time here, in the big picture, that it would be a waste to let it pass us by. So go out and in the words of Nike, “Just do it.”

The best rating Pops is willing to give a meal is “not bad.” But he firmly believes that all dessert is junk. That is, until it gets to the table. He has his elbows out, spoon in hand, ready to stealthily take more than his share of the communal dessert. We don’t mind though. Weighing in at too skinny and over six feet tall he can use any extra food he can get his hands on. Of all the things I remember about him, this one trait stands out the most. It’s not greed or hunger or embarrassment. He’s not lying to us or ashamed of how much he secretly loves chocolate. He’s simply being himself. He’s being Pops. He does what he likes, and that is an extremely admirable quality. Why spend your time in a class you don’t enjoy, or playing a sport that makes you miserable? It’s OK to change what you want. I know I have.

When I first enrolled here, I had a plan. I would become an athlete: a field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse star. Academics would be my next priority, but I would never be in another play, and I would never, EVER join choir. Well, I’m not quite the athlete I hoped to be, but I am playing two sports I love competitively, though only hockey overlaps with my freshman-year plan. I have no problem spending part of Saturday night studying, but only part. I’ll even admit that I enjoyed being “Mrs. Yang” [in “The Good Person of Szechuan”] this fall. And I think everyone knows I look forward to choir. So, in the words of the Life is Good Co., “Do what you like. Like what you do.”

As we drive home from Padanaram, the small village my grandparents call home, in the armpit of Massachusetts, we recount our day. Usually, we all have a story about Pops to share. His stories have been repeated for years, a trait that passed right down to me, and it’s always great entertainment to compare the conversations he has with each of us. Listening to his stories about the Battle of Normandy or how he used to illegally drive a quarter of a block down the street as a wild 13-year-old made me realize something. I think Dr. Seuss put it quite well when he said, “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is

“There has never been and never will be someone who is the same as you.”

Polly Murray ’10

Youer than You.” There has never been and never will be someone who is the same as you. From our path through life, to our relationships with other people, and right down to our DNA (Right Mr. Evans?), we each have our own story. This is how I think about it.

The Earth does not revolve around you, but your world does. Everything you know is centered on one person alone. Others can have a similar pattern, but no two will ever be the same. So take time to listen to the paths of your family and friends, you might just learn something about yourself. After all, they are the planets revolving around your world.

My final lesson of the day, my last nugget of wisdom, if you will, is about change. I don’t have a story about my family for this one, because change isn’t just a single story. I can’t point out the first time I knew what death was or the first time I discovered who I was or

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Polly as Mrs. Yang [in “The Good Person of Szechuan”] this fall.

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where I belonged. For me, it’s been a gradual process.

I’m a Murray, but I’m also a Howes. Pops is my grandfather, and as I’ve grown older, he’s taught me valuable life lessons, some of which I didn’t realize until now.

But right now Pops is going through some serious changes. I’m not sure what the next year will hold for him, and I’m not sure what the next year will hold for me. But so far, he’s taken each change with this attitude: First, be stubborn and refuse to let go of what’s familiar. Then, consider the positive aspects of the change. And finally, agree to change and notice only the newfound benefits.

It’s 2010. This is a big year for those of us sitting up front. My other grandfather, we call him Grandpa, calls this the “transition year”—I think: His handwriting is a little hard to read. We’re at the edge of the comfy St.

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George’s nest we’ve called home for two, three or four years. Change is coming at us, and I hope that we can all go out and make the best of it. If winter’s not your thing, just remember that it’ll soon be spring, and the warmth is so much better after the cold. If Mondays stress you out, consider how often we get Monday classes cancelled because of a holiday. I can guarantee that every situation you’ll find yourself in has a silver lining. Find the best parts of everything that comes your way, no matter how terrible it may seem, and I think you’ll find that if you take advantage of what’s around you, and do what makes you happy, you can handle any change that’s thrown your way.

Po l ly Murr ay ’10 is from Cohasset, Mass. She can be reached at Polly_Murray@stgeorges.edu.

R AY WOISHEK ’89 PHOTO BY

A place to call home It may not be a traditional “home” at all

BY SABRA WILSON ’10 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Dec. 15, 2009.

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am an extraordinarily average person. Most people can get up here and pinpoint one specific event or even a series of events that changed their lives. I mean, it’s not like I can’t point out a few things that have changed my life: there was the day I got accepted to SG, for one. Many seniors, I’ve noticed, talk about a disease or injury that has taught them something. I’ve had an operation in which I lost a significant amount of hearing in my right ear, but I can’t say that the operation changed my life drastically. There have been periods in my life that have been difficult, and there have been great times, too. I’m sure my parents would

prefer if I did not go into details about the years when I was homeschooled, because my opinion of homeschooling is not a positive one. My years here at SG, on the other hand, have been the best of my life. So many seniors have spoken about the one thing they’ve learned here. I can sum it up in five words: Be yourself and be positive. It’s a variation of what almost every senior has said while standing in this chapel giving their speech. It is probably going to come up in my speech. So, you might be asking yourself (and you can be sure that I was when I was writing this), what is she going to talk about? My answer? I want to tell you about my various homes.

Unlike an increasing number of my classmates, I have been extremely blessed in that my parents are still

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together. Until I reached the age of 14, I considered my home the one that I had grown up in. From the day that my mother brought me home from the hospital until the day I went off to my first-ever boarding school experience in the summer of 2006, the longest time I had ever spent away from home was a week at sleepaway camp. And even then, I was surrounded by friends—and even my sister in later years. I considered “home” to be the house where my life was based. When people asked where I was from, I proudly stated my street address in a remote part of upstate New York. I knew where home was.

As soon as I arrived on the St. George’s campus at the very impressionable age of 14, I knew I had another home. The thing that I did not realize at the time was that it was possible to have more than one home. After spending a month here doing what I love best—call me a nerd, but it’s learning—I had a hard time readjusting to my first home, with my parents. I had tasted independence and I really resented my parents’ attempts to keep me safe and part of the family. My parents wanted me to participate in family activities. I wanted to sit in my room for hours on end and mope because I wasn’t with my friends from the summer session, whom I had begun to look upon as my “real” family. It took a very long time for me to come to an agreement with my parents, but I finally settled into a routine at yet another home: my local public school.

Our town’s public high school was not one of the awful ones that I had always heard about. Granted, since it took everyone in my age group, there were some completely uninspired students, but then again, there were some brilliant ones as well. I was able to put my love of learning to good use, but at the same time, I was able to pass classes and get good grades (with the exception of Phys Ed) without much effort. I am still grateful for the fact that there was no effort mark system at that school. The high school setting also offered me some independence, although nothing close to what I had experienced in the boarding school setting. I did not make friends quickly that year, maybe because I was the newcomer—everyone else had known each other from preschool—and maybe because I was hoping to move on. I found some friends among the upperclassmen, whom I still maintain contact with

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today. But for the most part, I stuck to my studying and books. Everyone knew to look for me in the library.

That library became another home for me, as did the choir room and various favorite classrooms. I think I realized during that time that I was going through a rebellious period; nearly the only prerequisite for a “home” during that period was that my parents and other family members were not there. I must have caused some grief for my parents—I really don’t know.

I do know that I was mourning the loss of my SG home. I also know that I was elated when I got the acceptance from St. George’s because I finally felt that I would be going home.

What I’ve learned here, that I want to share more than anything else, is that it’s good to feel at home in many diverse places. Don’t feel like you have to define any one place as home. It’s possible and completely fine to have multiple homes, multiple places where you feel comfortable. This is not to say that home is in your comfort zone. At SG, for example, I have been challenged, many times, to step out of my comfort zone and do something useful. I still feel that SG is my home, however. It’s good to have a home wherever you go, or if you don’t have one, it’s good to feel comfortable creating one. Don’t be afraid or ashamed of where you’re from. One thing I have learned is that the vast majority of people will not judge you by your childhood home. Revel in what you have learned from your origins, but don’t let them define or limit who you want to become.

Although today I still feel like I have many homes—almost any library, the home I grew up in, various high schools, and even some colleges that have now made my list—I look on this as a good thing, not something that tears apart my life. I can’t deny that SG is one of my favorite places to be, but I am not ashamed of where I’m from, or my background. My home is St. George’s School, a boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island. My home is also Lake Clear, a little neighborhood in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York. Maybe if you ask me in a year, I’ll tell you a third one.

Sa bra Wil son ’10 can be reached at her Internet home at Sabra_Wilson@stgeorges.edu.

Faculty/Staff Notes Global changes: Gould takes over Global Programs Tony and Lucia Jaccaci head to Shanghai Goldstein will teach Global Seminar

Three longtime faculty members are making major transitions in their lives—with big impact on the St. George’s community After overseeing the fundraising operation of the school for 19 years, Assistant Head of School for External Affairs Joe Gould will be stepping aside from his role in development and heading into the Joe Gould classroom—and beyond.

Gould will become the new Director of Global Programs, a role now held by Tony Jaccaci, who leaves the school at the end of June to serve as head of a school in China.

Gould, who for many years has been a devoted liaison for Korean families who are part of the school community, is a fitting choice as Jaccaci’s successor, Head of School Eric Peterson said.

“Given his longstanding interest in world affairs and his championing of our commitment to global engagement, Joe is a natural fit for the role,” Peterson announced to the community.

Gould also will be playing an important “of counsel” role to the development office and to his successor, according to Peterson, as the school moves ever closer

to a new capital campaign.

A national search is now under way for Gould’s successor.

Gould will teach several sections of classes, and assist in afternoon and evening activities. He also Tony Jaccaci will be heading up a feasibility study to determine whether the school should consider the opportunity to open up a satellite campus on Jeju Island in Korea. In Lucia Jaccaci July 2008, the Korean government announced plans to “establish an English education complex on the island of Jeju,” according to ESL Daily, an English language newspaper in Korea. The complex will cost an estimated $1.4 billion dollars, and the plan is to build four elementary schools, five middle schools and three high schools, which can host 9,000 students, all studying in English. The Jeju Develop-

ment Center is now in talks with several U.S. and British schools, including St. George’s, to see which ones may want to join them in the project.

Meanwhile, Jaccaci and his wife, history teacher Lucia Jaccaci, will move Jeremy Goldstein to Shanghai this summer with their sons, Nick, Sam and Ben. Jaccaci has accepted the position of executive principal of the YK Pao Secondary School, a bilingual (Chinese/English) school in Shanghai, China. The school, which had been serving students aged 5-11, is expanding to offer middle and high school curriculums.

Complementing Joe in his new role as Director of Global Programs will be Jeremy Goldstein, who will teach the Global Studies Seminar, a course designed by Jaccaci that features an extended visit to a foreign country for research in March. “An experienced teacher and anthropologist who has traveled and lived all around the world, Goldstein is eminently well prepared for this new teaching challenge,” Peterson said.

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Faculty/Staff Notes P ETERSO N E LEC TED T O H E A DM A ST E RS ’ A SS O CI ATI ON According to its charter, written more than 100 years ago, the Headmasters’ Association brings together “the distinguished leaders of the nation’s distinguished schools.” And so it was a great honor when our own Head of School E ric F. P ete r so n was elected to the organization this month.

This election “acknowledges the many talents your colleagues have seen in you,” the head of the association wrote in a letter to Peterson.

Peterson accepted the honor during The Headmasters’ Association’s annual meeting at the ACE conference center in Lafayette Center, Pa., Feb. 3-5.

Throughout its long existence, the Headmasters’ Association has represented a wide variety of schools—urban, suburban and rural; public, private and parochial; boarding and day—and tackled a broad range of educational issues, including institutional leadership, teaching techniques, gender and racial equality, standardized testing, technology and school safety.

Assistant Head of School for External Affairs Joe Gould was a featured speaker at the C.A.S.E. (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education) Conference in New York Jan. 24-26. Gould, along with Ed Hu, chief advancement officer at HarvardWestlake School in Los Angeles, discussed different approaches to continuous fundraising programs in a talk entitled “Major Gifts and Insiders.”

After six years of directing our own end-of-the-school-year yard sale, Alumni/ae Office assistants Toni Cia ny and Gale Bo one have lots of advice to pass on. And so the two were popular speakers at the fifth annual Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change Conference held in New

Bedford, Mass., in October. The talk, titled, “Graceful Exit: How to Leave Your Campus Lean and Green When the School Year Ends” focused on the June sale in the SG ice rink that offers for sale dorm furniture, household items, sports equipment and clothes that students no longer want. The Bioneers conference attracted more than 2,000 students, teachers, business leaders, scientists and community leaders who discussed “the environment, sustainability efforts, and other innovative approaches to greening the economy.” All SG Yard Sale proceeds go to Camp Ramleh, the SG-sponsored summer camp for underprivileged Newport County children. Over $24,000 has been raised over the six years the yard sale has been held. This year’s sale will be held on Saturday, June 12.

Dean of Faculty B o b We sto n, along with the late Headmaster Emeritus Chuc k Ha mb le t, were among 151 coaches, administrators and officials inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame Oct. 9 at Mohegan Sun. Both Weston and Hamblet were inducted in the Scholar-Athlete category: Weston for his play at Amherst, and Hamblet for his play at Baldwin-Wallace.

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Dr. K im B ul lo c k was the recipient of the 2009 Educational Award Nov. 7 when the Newport County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement Dr. Kim Bullock of Colored People (NAACP) held its 90th annual Awards Celebration Dinner. The award is presented each year to a local teacher dedicated to the profession and support of diversity. Bullock, SG’s director of diversity, is also a science teacher and faculty advisor to the student diversity club, Insight.

After 18 years of service to the school, housekeeper D e lo r e s Bu d l o n g spent her last day on the Hilltop on Aug. 28. For years, she

Members of the housekeeping staff Ana Costa, Delores Budlong, Maria Demello and Angela Vargas on Budlong’s last day at SG. served the girls in Blue and Zane dormitories and made the daily coffees and teas and placed the cookies in the faculty lounge.

Beyond that, Delores was a friendly and compassionate presence to students and a dear companion to many on the staff.

Director of Housekeeping Luis A. Carrion remarked, “I have often told some of my departing employees that one of the most difficult things that I have to do is to move their personnel documents from the ‘active’ to ‘inactive’ file. This is one such case where the mere physical act of moving the files from one cabinet to another will be hard on me.

She was a wonderful and dedicated employee and she is an equally great person.”

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Coaches Julie Butler (top left) and Katie Titus (top right) and members of the Girls’ Varsity Basketball team—(back row) Annetta O’Leru ’12, Caroline O’Connor ’10, Jordan Watson ’10, D.J. Wilson ’12, Oona Pritchard ’13, Kelly Miller ’11, Mary O’Connor ’11 and Lauren Hilton ’10; and (front row) Laura Lowry ’10, Anna Carr ’11, Joy Bullock ’12, Jessie Hom ’13 and Theresa Salud ’13.

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Rahil Fazelbhoy ’13, U.S. No. 1 squash player Julian Illingworth and Max Richards ’10.

The top-ranked American male squash professional in the world, Julian Illingworth, hit the Hoopes Squash Center courts Nov. 20-22 when SG hosted this year’s Rhode Island Open. No surprise: Illingworth won the tournament, even though many other highly ranked international pros were also here.

The Open is a one-star Professional Squash Assocation tournament, with 16 world-class squash players, and this year awarded a $10,000 purse. Amateurs— including members of the varsity boys squash team Ma x Ric h ard s ’10, whose father T im R ic ha rds coaches the team, and our newest player from India, R ah il Fa zel bh oy ’13—took part in the tournament as well.

Illingworth had a very successful collegiate career at Yale University. As a professional, Julian has had success on the national and international levels. Last March, he won his fifth consecutive SL Green National Championship and has been participating on the PSA tour for three years.

Former St. George’s football standout Mike Tayl or ’06, who recently completed a season as undefeated Amherst College’s senior inside linebacker, earned a spot on the All-District First Team for District 1 by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

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Varsity football players, No. 58 Ben Lewis ’10 and No. 7 Emil Henry ’11.

Girls varsity soccer players Mary O'Connor ’11, Anna Carr ’11 and Joy Bullock ’12.

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Boys varsity soccer’s Ian Tigh ’10 made the NEPSSA Senior All-Star team.

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Mike Taylor ’06 was a top defensive player in the N.E. Small College Athletic Conference this year.

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An economics major with a cumulative GPA of 3.60, Taylor was selected for his academic success, the directors said, along with “his athletic achievements from the 2009 season and his career highlights on the football field.”

Of the 25 student-athletes named to the District 1 First Team, Taylor was one of only 11 defensive players.

During the 2009 season Taylor, of Evanston, Ill., was twice named the NESCAC Football Defensive CoPlayer of the Week—once for his performance during the team’s Oct. 31 13-3 win over Tufts University and for a second time after recording 16 total tackles during an Nov. 3 win over Bowdoin.

Coverage of the Lord Jeff’s season-ending game against rival Williams was prolific in Western Massachusetts. In front of a crowd of nearly 8,000, the Jeffs beat the Ephs 26-21 Nov. 14 on the road in Williamstown for the first time since 1985.

Words Unlimited, Rhode Island’s media organization of sports writers, sportscasters and sports publicists, named Ma dd ie Car rel la s ’09 as Rhode Island’s Schoolgirl Athlete of the Year. She was scheduled to be honored at the group’s 64th annual dinner, Feb. 21, at the Radisson Hotel in Warwick.

Carrellas, a freshman at the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Mass., was a three-varsity-sport (field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse) standout at St. George’s. A midfielder, she earned All-America honors last spring.

We should have photos back soon from the alumni/ae hockey game, which took place on Feb. 13,

with our own Associate Director of Admission and former Washington Capitals’ right wing R ya n M ul her n ’91 organizing. Among the approximately 20 former team members expected to attend were Bi ll B at ch el de r ’61, Wi ll Se ife r t ’99, B ret t Sa ni da s ’84, T im Li ne awe aver ’75, St evie Co nne tt ’86, Da n Wo ish ek ’91, Jay Ken dri ck ’04, Ca m Dymen t ’04, Ra y Woi she k ’89, Je rr y K irby ’74, Davi d Mi tc he ll ’00, Ge org e Sa rge nt ’00, Gre g Fe rgu son ’85, R ic h De msey ’92, and R yan Mul he rn ’91. Perhaps next year Clarkson University grad and New York Islanders draft pick Sh ea Gut hri e ’05 will make an appearance?

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DAVIS ’06 EARNS COVETED HO OPS HO NO RS AT EMMANUEL COLLEGE I ma n Davis ’06 became the Emmanuel College women’s basketball program’s all-time leading scorer Feb. 3 in an 88-82 win over Wesleyan University. Davis entered the game with 1,611 career points, just 15 points shy of the Emmanuel program’s career scoring record. In just 21 minutes of action, the senior guard poured in 21 points and in doing so became the program’s new alltime leading scorer.

Davis surpassed the mark of 1,626 points set by All-American Lesa Dennis, who played for the Saints from 1984-1988.

Davis is “one of the best players ever to suit up as a Saint,” the sports office at Emmanuel reports. At presstime, Davis also held triple-figure career totals in three other categories, including: rebounds (693), assists (378) and steals (372).

In fact, Davis is one of Emmanuel’s alltime most decorated student-athletes. She was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference’s Player of the Year both as a sophomore and a junior. Along with her player-of-the-year honors, Davis has also been named to ECAC and D3hoops.com All-New England region teams.

Davis was chosen a pre-season All-American this year and has helped lead the Saints to their current NCAA ranking of fourth in New England.

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Varsity field hockey player Veronica Scott ’12 received All-ISL, honorable mention honors last season.

Graham Knisley ’10 was Varsity Boys’ Soccer’s Most Valuable Player.

Cross-country’s Sam Livingston ’10 takes the lead from St. Paul’s at the start of the race.

FALL ATHLETES MAKE THEIR MARK 2 0 0 9 S T. GE ORG E ’ S FA L L ATH L ET I C AWAR DS BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

FOOTBALL

Galvin Cross Country Award .................................................. Eva n Read Cross Country Coaches’ Cup .......................................... David Vasquez Cross Country Most Improved .................................. Hythem Al-Mulla All-County .............. Hythem Al-Mulla, Hendrik Kits va n Heyningen, .............................................. Chad Larcom, E van Read, David Vasquez Captain-elect ........................................................................ Chad La rcom

Thayer Football Cup .............................................................. Teddy Swif t Claggett Football Award.......................................................... Ben Lewis Football Most Improved Player........................................ Mike Almberg All-ISL, first team.................................................................... Teddy Swif t All-ISL, honorable mention.... Drew Boyd, Ben Lewis, Brett Passemato Captain-elect .................................................................. Brett Passemato

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Galvin Cross Country Award .......................................... Suzy Reynolds Cross Country Coaches’ Cup .................................... Sophie Domanski Cross Country Most Improved.................................................. Julia Oak All-County ........................................ Caitlin Connerney, Keely Conway, .............................. Logan Hendrix, Evelyn Maldo na do , Maddie Pa rke r Captains-elect........................................ Aniase Kanimba, Hilla r y Wein

Soccer Most Valuable Player Award............................ Graham K nisley Soccer Coaches’ Cup............................................................ Garrett Sider McIlhinny Most Improved Award .............................. Gunnar Bjornson All-America candidate .................................................. Graham K nisley Boston Globe All-Scholastic MVP ................................ Graham K nisley All-New England ............................................................ Graham K nisley NEPSSA Senior All-Star Game .................... Graham Knisley, Ia n Tigh All-ISL, first team................................ Mic hael Casey, Graham K nisley All-ISL, honorable mention .................. Valdair Lopes, Ja ke Shimmel, ................................................................................................ Mike Violette Captain-elect...................................................................... Mic ha el Casey

FIELD HOCKEY Walsh Field Hockey Bowl .............................................. Cour tney Jo nes Field Hockey Coaches’ Cup ...................................... Charlo tte Deavers Field Hockey Most Improved Player ...................... Mar y Klimasewiski All-ISL, first team ........................................................ Charlo tte Deavers All-ISL, honorable mention.............................................. Veronic a Sco tt Captains-elect .......................................... Taylor Risley, Veronic a Sco tt

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GIRLS SOCCER Soccer Most Valuable Player Award ............................ Lindsey Brook s Soccer Coaches’ Cup.......................................................... Jesse Pac hec o Soccer Most Improved Player ................................................ Joy Bulloc k All-ISL, honorable mention ........................ Lindsey Brook s, Anna Ca rr Captains-elect .................. Julia Carrellas, Mar y O’Co nnor, Anna Ca rr

A parent caught this terrific photo at the girls varsity cross-country N.E. Championships at Groton in November. Getting drenched are Dragons Suzy Reynolds ’10, Evelyn Maldonado ’11, Keely Conway ’13 and Joanna Xu ’13.

Continued from page 35

PHOTO BY TOM

Academic and athletic standout P hi l Roye r ’09 ran an 8:30.5 3,000-meter to finish third at the Dartmouth Relays on Jan. 10. He was the top college finisher, with two professional runners taking first and second.

Royer is now a member of the the Big Green men’s track and field team, which hosted the 41st annual relays at the Leverone Field House. The three-day meet consisted of high school, masters, open and college events.

Men’s head coach Barry Harwick told his school’s newspaper he was pleased with his team’s performance.

“I was very proud of how hard our team worked at the meet,” he told The Dartmouth. “Putting on a huge three-day event like this would be impossible without the help of all 100 members of the squad and they really came through for us.” Of course, we already knew Royer was a team player.

MONKUS

The Providence Journal awarded All-Star status to several of our fall athletes: boys varsity soccer team co-captain Gra h am K ni sle y ’10 and fellow teammates Mi ke Ca sey ’11 and Va ld ai r Lo pe s ’12; field hockey player Ch ar lo tte Dea ve r s ’10; Varsity Girls Soccer team co-captain L ind sey B roo k s ’10 and football team captain Te dd y Swi f t ’10.

Pearson Potts ’12 races his Laser Radial during the ISSA High School Single-Handed Championship in Corpus Christi, Texas, in October.

SG Sailing standout P ea r so n Po t ts ’12 showed his off-season dedication to the sport when he got the chance to participate in the National SingleHanded Championships held in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the end of October. Potts impressed attendees with an 11th place finish in Laser Radial competition. To get to the Nationals, Potts had placed third in the New England Single-Handed Championships in September. Potts is a well-traveled sailor. Among his journeys: In July 2008, he traveled to Cesme, Turkey, to sail in Ilica Bay. In 2007, he finished 50th among 252 sailors at the world championship in Cagliari on the island of Sardinia, Italy; and in 2006, he finished 65th out of 239 at the world championship in Montevideo, Uruguay.

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“Save me. Help me,” reads a poster held by Laney Yang ’10 during a campaign to raise awareness of child abuse in Korea.

Yang takes part in Korean volunteer group that reaches out to needy

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feature story in the Korea Herald last fall featured the work of a group of 27 Korean high school students, including our own La ne y Yan g ’10, who are volunteering in their home country to help underprivileged young people and promote human rights.

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The group, officially named Step Forward, volunteers its time to teach English to children from lowincome families and stage street campaigns to raise awareness of child abuse in Korea. The group was formed in May 2009.

Last summer, group members hosted an English camp at a social welfare center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. They developed special programs to offer free English lessons to elementary school students whose parents were both working.

Group members, 16 of whom are studying in the United States, have known one another since their kindergarten days and say they organized the group “to pursue something meaningful for society.”

Members say they believe prompt action needs to be taken to address child abuse cases that are largely neglected in Korea.

To get a better understanding, they visited Good Neighbors, a nongovernmental charity organization, and a child protection center in Gyeonggi Province in July.

“Since Korean society has a relatively lenient viewpoint on child abuse than other advanced countries, many children are suffering from it,” Yang told the newspaper.

To raise public awareness group members staged street campaigns in August, encouraging passers-by to sign up in support of the Child Protection Law, which would require teachers and doctors to report child abuse cases to authorities.

Members have also written letters to lawmakers and government officials urging them to support the amendment.

During school vacations, the group plans to regularly organize free English classes and to continue their volunteer work.

C AROLINE ALEXANDER ’12 ARTWORK BY

Caroline Alexander ’12 received an Areté Award for her Japanese poetry project, which included a computer animation component.

Highlights...

Car ol ine Al exa nd er ’12 was presented with an Areté Award—which recognizes student work of truly exceptional creative or intellectual merit—for a first-rate project on Japanese literature she completed in November.

English teacher Patricia Lothrop awarded the Areté to Alexander “for her initiative, creativity, and analysis in her computer animation, original poems, and explication responding to the Japanese classic, “Genji monogatari.”

of ABC TV’s “Primetime” and correspondent for “20/20”; Jehane Noujaim, photographer and filmmaker; Kenji Yoshino, Yale Law School professor; and Marcia Gillespie, former editor-in-chief of Essence and Ms. magazines.

One of several talented artists at SG, Jes se P ac h ec o ’10 designed the 2009 annual Christmas card—an inventive scene of the chapel inside a traditional “snow globe.” The card, a hot seller on campus, also scored Pacheco $100, the annual prize for the student chosen to create the card.

Continued on page 40

The St. George’s Chapter of the National Chinese Honor Society inducted eight new members into its ranks this fall. Seniors Ste ph a nie Joh nso n, M ar y B eh an, To ny Ki m, Chri sty Le e, Ju lia Oa k, Jesse P ac h ec o, Ta o Ja tu srip it a k and K a th eri ne S he k all earned a grade of A- or higher in Chinese at the end of each of the past two years.

ILLUSTRATION BY J ESSE

PACHECO ’10

Esi Oze me bho ya ’11, Ann et t a O ’Le ru ’12, Val da ir L o pes ’12 and D.J. Wil so n ’12 attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference with Director of Diversity K i m Bu llo c k in Denver, Colo., in December.

Part of the National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference, the student gathering focused on the theme, “Mine, Yours, and Ours: The Responsibility to Navigate the Rapids of Change.” Keynote speakers for the group conference, which attracted close to 2,500 teachers, students and administrators, included: John Quiñones, co-anchor

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Grac e Alza i ba k ’12 and E si O zhe me bh oya ’11 emerged victorious in the final round of the annual allschool debate that took place on Nov. 20 in Madeira Hall. The topic? The same issue the nation has been focused on: health care, or more exactly: “Resolved:

Grace Alzaibak ’12, Esi Ozemebhoya ’11 and Timon Watkins ’11 were finalists in this year’s All-School Debate.

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that the federal government should guarantee comprehensive national health insurance to all United States citizens.” Debate challengers put on a strong performance as well. Alzaibak debated Seb ast ia n Frug on e ’12 in the final round, while Ozhemebhoya edged out T imo n Wa tk ins ’11.

This T-shirt, designed by Julia Oak ’10 and Jesse Pacheco ’10, helped kick off the 2010 Green Cup Challenge, a multischool competition aimed at raising awareness of energy conservation.

Julia Oak ’10

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Jesse Pacheco ’10

Academic Honors for First Semester 2009-10 Head of School Commendation for Academic Excellence The Head of School Commendation for Academic Excellence is St. George’s highest bi-annual honor.

These students received no grade below an A- during the 2009-10 first semester: Matthew Eric Archer ’11 Mary Katherine Behan ’10 Sebastian Alexander Bierman-Lytle ’11 Loretta Bu ’10

Honor Roll III Form Ryan James Andrade Wyatt Belin Bramhall Josephine Rose Cannell John Garvoille Coaty Richard Ryan Conlogue Rebecca Warren Cutler Nico Cyril DeLuca-Verley Sophia Elisabeth DenUyl Kelly Frances Duggan Rahil Karim Aliff Fazelbhoy William Russell Fleming Marianne Casey Foss-Skiftesvik Bethany Lynn Fowler Michael Stephen Hoffman David Larimer Kehoe Peter Kohler Efstathios Kyriakides Nicholas King Larson Hannah McCormack Alana Claire McMahon Chanjoon (C.J.) Park Madeleine Emelia Parker Daniel Perry, III Oona Carolena Pritchard Callie Victoria Reis Theresa Anne Salud Jae Young Shin Daniel Edmond Tobin Sienna Warriner Turecamo Han (Joanna) Xu

IV Form Katherine Pond Adams Caroline Elizabeth Alexander Grace George Alzaibak Alexandra Elena Ballato Aubrey Joan Baumbach Brice James Berg Claire Emily Chalifour Woo Sung (Justin) Chun Robert Joseph Citrino, IV Eliza Duncan Cover Harriet Peabody Davison Casey Elizabeth DeLuca Emily Derecktor Katherine Mitchell Desrosiers David Alexander Elron Anna Spencer Erickson Megan Hope Everett Emma Dane Garfield

Bethany Lynn Fowler ’13 Polina Victorivna Godz ’11 Tae Kyung (Tony) Kim ’10 Hendrik Keating Kits van Heyningen ’10

Matthew Field Gilbert Ellen Abigail Granoff Amanda Marie Hansel Jamison Campbell Harrington Tucker Bailey Harrington Erin Sumi Hendrix Logan Yoshi Hendrix Halsey Clay Huth Trisha-Joy Jackson Justin Jaikissoon Jonathan Kearney Januszewski Erin Elizabeth Killeavy Michael J. Kim Soojin Kim Sophie Barksdale Layton Stephanie Jimin Lee Erin Kelly Leist Emily Jeanne Lewis Valdair Corsino Lopes Charles Webb Macaulay Joseph Matrone Mack Elizabeth Todd Manning Alana Marie McCarthy Sadie Ruth McQuilkin Cornelius A. Millane Alexandra Rose Paindiris Pearson Bahan Potts, Jr. Evan Parker Read Veronica Gabrielle Scott John Ingalls Snow, IV Rachel Charlene Sung Charlotte Anne von Meister Anna Pierce Williams

V Form Emily Thayer Adams Virginia Merrill Adams Graham Thomas Anderson Matthew Eric Archer Rachel Grosvenor Asbel Sebastian Alexander Bierman-Lytle Sarah Collum Burdick Julia Stanton Carrellas Michael Patrick Casey Graham Dean Cochrane Haley Anne Congdon Brittany Noelle Corso Vanessa Keane de Horsey Niall James Devaney Isabelle Ross Dove Sophie Carol Flynn Olivia Isabella Beatriz Gebelein Polina Victorivna Godz Caroline Lauren Gummo

Sophie Barksdale Layton ’12 Yoo Jeong (Christy) Lee ’10 Joseph Matrone Mack ’12 Grace Alexandra Owens-Stively ’10

Katherine Brooks Harris Daniel Alan Johnson Anaise Umubyeyi Kanimba MacLean Robert Kirkwood Anh Viet La L’Oreal McKenna Lampley Charles Bayard Larcom Victoria Kathryne Leonard Madeline White Lucas Heydi Malavé Evelyn Dawn Maldonado Phoebe Saran Manning John J. McCabe Katherine Hume McCormack Avery Lynn McDonald George Grove Mencoff Kelly McPhillips Miller Abigail Moatz Maia Maude Monell Everett Richard Gray Muzzy Lilias Juanita Noesen Mary Elizabeth O’Connor Jeremy Thomas Phillips Kyle Joseph Powers Katharine Rose Putnam Virginia Randolph Reynolds Manon Cameron Richards Taylor Anne Risley Sharnell Chory Robinson E. William Rosen Rachel Elizabeth Sellstone Seton Stabler Talty Carolyn Cooper Uhlein David J. Vasquez Martin Ventoso Hillary Louise Wein Katherine Steel Wilkinson Taylor Marion Williams Huck Joon (Scott) Yang

VI Form Christopher Mathew Barron Alexandra Gifford Barrows Ramona Frates Bass Philip Dylan Baus Elizabeth Forbes Bayne Mary Katherine Behan Milan Boscia Lindsey Cadien Brooks Loretta Bu Andrew Joseph Colacchio Shealagh Anne Coughlin Charlotte Mary Deavers Sophie Martha Domanski

Charlotte Kathryn Edson Christopher Ryan Ellis Kathleen Rose FitzGerald Maria Cristina Arguimbau Gebelein Eliza Roberts Ghriskey Seymour Parker Gilbert, III Casey Christine Hansel Alexander Charlton Hare Kinyette Henderson Napon (Tao) Jatusripitak Eric Galloway Jernigan Tanapong (Nont) Jiarathanakul Stephanie Pamela Johnson Courtney Bolling Jones John Scott Karol Kyungmin Kim Tae Kyung (Tony) Kim Hendrik Keating Kits van Heyningen Graham Stedman Knisley Claire Noelle Kudenholdt Yoo Jeong (Christy) Lee Benjamin Douglas Lewis Samuel Dunbar Livingston Laura Elizabeth Lowry Taylor Bell McElhinny Lara Ailis McLeod Barbara Benson Murray Henry Ainsworth Myers Oksana Nagornuka Carl William Nightingale Katherine Branin O’Brien Caroline Elizabeth O’Connor Lauren Angela O’Halloran Julia Elizabeth Pinkham Oak William Fraser Osler Grace Alexandra Owens-Stively Jessenia Pacheco Henry Charles Peterson Pavinee Praneeprachachon Suzanne Louise Reynolds Maxwell Kiely Richards William Oscar Riiska, Jr. Peter William Rugo Katherine Leigh Shek Jacob Clark Shimmel Campbell E. Shuford Garrett Maxwell Sider Ian S.N. Tigh Michael James Violette Jordan Alyssa Watson Sabra Adele Wilson Ashley-Anne Hamilton Winslow Lela Alexandra Wulsin Esme Louise Yozell

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College Acceptances (as of Feb. 17) 81 of the 89 members of the Class of 2010 have an acceptance in hand.

The remaining students are waiting for decisions in the regular round in March and April

ED/ EA Acceptances

Additional Acceptances Other students are choosing among:

43 students have decided to attend: American University of Paris Barnard College Carnegie Mellon University Colby College College of New Jersey College of Wooster Colorado College Connecticut College (2) Cornell University (2) Duke University (2) Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Emory University George Washington University (2) Gettysburg College (2) Hamilton College – NY (3) Haverford College Middlebury College (2) New York University St. Lawrence University Trinity College (3) Tufts University (2) University of Pennsylvania (3) University of St. Andrews (Scotland) (2) University of Vermont Vanderbilt University (2) Wake Forest University Washington & Lee University Wesleyan University Yale University

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Rhode Island School of Design

Babson College (3)

Rhodes College

Bard College (2)

Roanoke College (3)

Bentley University

Roger Williams University (4)

Boston College

Saint Joseph’s University

Catholic University of America

Salve Regina University (2)

Chapman University (2)

Sewanee: The University of the South

College of Charleston (3)

Southern Methodist University (5)

Colorado College (7)

Stonehill College

Dickinson College

Syracuse University

Drexel University

Tulane University

Elon University

University of Colorado at Boulder

Emory University (Scholars Program)

University of Denver (2)

Fairfield University

University of Edinburgh (2)

Fordham University

University of Glasgow

Gordon College

University of Maryland, College Park (2)

Hampton University Hobart & William Smith Colleges Howard University

University of Miami (2) University of Michigan (4)

Indiana University at Bloomington

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

James Madison University

University of Rhode Island (2)

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Lawrence University

University of Scranton

Miami University, Oxford

University of South Carolina

Northeastern University (2)

University of Vermont (7)

Pennsylvania State University

Washington and Jefferson College

Pratt Institute

Wentworth Institute of Technology

Quinnipiac University (3)

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

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Visiting Chinese teacher had a ‘backstory’ Exchange programs bring those with diverse experiences to the Hilltop When Konberg Ngai, a veteran Chinese language teacher from Chinese International School in Hong Kong visited St. George’s in October, he appeared to be a happy-go-lucky older man. Here as part of the ongoing faculty exchange between the two schools, Ngai had a sunny outlook, a ready smile.

While here, Mr. Ngai did the usual: He attended

chapel and sat in on assembly, shared meals with faculty members and students, visited classes, did a bit of Newport sightseeing, even taught a Chinese class. He told many about his 23-year-long career at CIS, a 1,400-student day school in the heart of an international city.

However, relatively few people probably heard where Mr. Ngai had really come from: Ngai had a

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Java, Indonesia, circa. 1960

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bigger story to tell.

Born and raised until the age of 16 in Java, Indonesia, Ngai and his family experienced much discrimination in his early years.

Ngai had relatives whose homes were set on fire because they were Chinese. “There were lots of kidnappings and robberies in the big cities. Lots of awful things happened,” he said. “There was a large antiChinese movement in Indonesia.”

Ngai’s Chinese parents owned a chocolate candy company, which they were later forced to close because of the danger. His parents, he said, sold the piano he’d learned to play because they feared that criminals would find out they had it and assume the family was wealthy—a prime target for robbery.

His family wanted to give Ngai a better life, and so he was sent back to China alone at 16 to attend boarding school. It was an irreversible decision. The move would cost him his Indonesian citizenship, so he could never return home.

Feeling homesick was useless. “For me it was hopeless to think about this, because it was impossible for me to go home to Indonesia,” he said.

By himself in Xiamen, China—a coastal city in Southeast China—Ngai’s only goal was to study. Wakeup time was early. “The day started with exercise in a grass field, all the students, with music,” he said. Every day: Same music, same exercise. Then class.

“We knew we needed to work hard. We needed to

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get into a university. Otherwise we would not get a job,” he said.

At the time, he lived a sparce life, with few luxuries—and yet he still feels indebted to his ancestral home.

“My parents didn’t support me very regularly. The Chinese government supported me every month,” he said. “It’s still in my heart.”

After high school, Ngai, became a teacher—but not before spending a mandatory year in military service—a depraved year living in harsh conditions.

After a brutal train ride, Ngai and his fellow draftees were transferred to an Army truck. “We spent about four or five hours reaching a small village and there was a very simple camp for us and then we spent one year there,” he said. “It was tough, real tough.”

Luckily for him, he had a talent that after about six months, spared him from some of the more grueling assignments: Though he had lost his childhood piano, Ngai later studied and became proficient at the accordion. He and about 30 of his fellow soldiers were picked to take part in an orchestra, instead of taking part in military training exercises in the remote wilderness.

After his year of service, Ngai went on to receive his bachelor’s degree at Huaqiao University, in Quanzhou, China, near Xiamen. He taught in elementary schools, and got married.

After the Cultural Revolution in 1978, Ngai and his wife decided to apply for the necessary travel permits to go to Hong Kong.

“Our lives were extremely poor at the time in Xiamen,” he said.

Hong Kong gave him a new life.

Ngai joined the faculty at CIS in 1987, just four years after its founding. He’s been there ever since.

Today, he says his profession allows him a good life, and he gets to travel often, and thoroughly enjoyed his visit to St. George’s. “Everyone greeted me with smiles,” he remarked.

Indeed, Ngai finds pleasure in the simple things.

Asked what his favorite place is to visit when he comes to the United States, he replied easily: “Niagara Falls.”

Why? “The sound,” he said. “That’s God’s music.”

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e dat p u CHAPEL RESTORATION UPDATE ▼ Check out the Capital Projects page of the St. George’s web site for photos of the ongoing restoration of the St. George’s Chapel.

As work continues, all major renovation projects—including the replacement of the towering signature window above the altar—will be documented.

Get to the photos by selecting the “Support SG” tab at www.stgeorges.edu, and then the “Capital Projects” tab from the pull-down menu.

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More from South Africa Molly Boyd ’10 visits with local schoolchildren in South Africa during an exchange last summer.

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Molly Boyd ’10 and Jake Riiska ’10 visited South Africa last summer as part of a new student exchange with two Capetown schools—the all-boys Bishops school and the all-girls St. Cyprian’s. The two attended classes in tradition uniforms, visited dramatic parts of the countryside (see the beach shot opposite page, right) and historic sites. They even got to meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, thanks to the Rt. Rev. Dr. Hays Rockwell, our trustee and former bishop of

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Missouri. In the 1970s, Rockwell was the rector of St. James Church in Manhattan and befriended Tutu on his many early visits to the United States.

This past fall, the exhange continued with a visit from two South African students to our campus in October.

Campbell Frost ’12 and Chisomo Mwanamvekha ’12 spent a few weeks on campus experiencing the American boarding school life, taking classes and doing some local sightseeing.

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Clockwise from top left: Illegal settlements in the townships; Molly Boyd ’10, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and Jake Riiska ’10, South Africa Exchange Students Campbell Frost ’12 and Chisomo Mwanamvekha ’12; and Jake Riiska ’10 horseback riding on a South African beach.

Jane Goldstone Sarouhan ’89 (left) stopped by St. George’s in the fall to meet with students and language faculty members about the student travel program she directs called Global Routes. Global Routes offers teen summer community service programs for high school students finishing the ninth through 12th grades and gap-year and semester teaching internships for students 17 years of age and older in Belize, Cambodia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Nepal, Peru, Tanzania, and Thailand.

Meeting with Sarouhan here are Chinese teacher Zhoulin Wang, Director of Global Programs Tony Jaccaci, French and Religion teacher Jeremy Goldstein, and Head of the French Department Alison de Horsey.

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This award-winning dress, made by Casey Hansel ’10, is constructed with knitted plastic bags and aluminum pull tabs.

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on’t expect to see Casey Hansel ’10 sitting around reading Vogue magazine: She’s not a fashion follower. She is, however, a fashion creator.

Hansel scored the local art student version of a Golden Globe this winter when she was awarded an American Vision Award for her fashion entry, “Purple Prom Dress” during Rhode Island Scholastic Art Award judging in January.

The “Vision” awards were given to just five students in the state, from thousands of entries.

Hansel’s dress, made of trash bags woven through aluminum can tabs, scored points for creativity, as well as execution. But it wasn’t a first attempt. Hansel said she’s been exploring making apparel from unexpected materials for some time. “I started collecting plastic bags, plastic bottles, and aluminum pull tabs a few years ago because I was hoping that I would make something out of them,” she said.

She tried a few different methods of connecting them and finally landed on knitting, already a skill of hers.

During the 2009 spring extracurricular/athletic season, Hansel completed a special project in which she produced a coat made entirely from plastic bags

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and a dress made from crocheted plastic bags on the bottom and aluminum pull tabs on the top.

That was a turning point. “To me, the most interesting part of the dress that I made was the top with the aluminum pull tabs,” she said. “That gave me the idea to make a dress entirely out of plastic bags woven through aluminum pull tabs.”

Last summer she ordered a roll of purple plastic trash can bags and began experimenting. “I finally found a method that I liked and started creating the dress,” she said.

She wasn’t trying to emulate Dolce&Gabbana or Kate Spade.

“I haven’t really based my designs off of anything other than my own imagination,” she said.

Fitting was by trial and error. Hansel admitted: “The most difficult part was fitting it to myself while I was wearing it.”

Turned out fine: Hansel wore the dress to the annual Christmas Formal in Newport in December.

R AY WOISHEK ’89 PHOTO BY

Arts news...

Along with Casey Hansel ’10, winner of an American Visions Award at the Rhode Island Scholastic Art competition this winter, nine other SG students received gold key awards in the competition.

Seven won top prizes for drawing—LLauren H ilton ’10, Ama nda Hansel ’12, Henr y Young ’12, Maria Gebelein ’10 , Kyungmin Kim ’10, Christy Lee ’10 and Lauren O’Halloran ’10—and two for sculpture Jo hn Karol ’10 and Moritz Petre ’10.

Four students won silver keys: Claire Chalifour ’12, Theresa Sa lud ’13 and Je ssenia Pacheco ’10 for drawing; and Alex H are ’10 for sculpture.

The opening ceremony for all Rhode Island Scholastic Art Award winners took place Sunday, Jan. 24, at Salve Regina University in Newport. The show ran through Feb. 12.

For their first semester final on Jan. 15, students in Betsy Durning’s Voice in Speech & Acting Class presented scenes from David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play, “Proof.”

Participating actors were: Victoria Leonard ’11,

Joe Grimeh ’13, Bric e Berg ’12, Loretta Bu ’10, Dominique Sa muel ’13, Nikki Yo ung ’13, Ramona Ba ss ’10, Joanna Xu ’13, Va ldair Lopes ’12, Sophie DenUyl ’13, Caroline Alexa nder ’12, Bethany Fow ler ’13, Tori Cunningham ’13, Kyle Pearson ’12, Laney Yang ’10, D.J. Wilson ’12, Anh La ’11, Molly Boyd ’10 and Erin Leist ’12.

At presstime, the theater department was gearing up for performances of the Winter Musical, “Urinetown,” the hit Broadway production that won Tony Awards for best director and best musical score in 2002.

Hard at work on their lead roles were Senior Prefect Stephanie Johnson ’10 (Little Sally), Kelty O’Brien ’10 (Barrel), Sebastian Bierman-Lytle ’11 (Cladwell) L’Oreal Lampley ’11 (McQueen), Graham Anderson ’11 (Senator Fipp), Allie Barrows ’10 (Hope), Chris Chew ’11 (Bobby), Lara McLeod ’10 (Penny), Grace OwensStively ’10 (Little Becky), Brice Berg ’12 (Hot B Harry), Miriam Elhaji ’13 (Josephine), and Valdair Lopes ’12 (Old Man Strong).

Along with a large ensemble cast, the performers are set to stage shows for the public on Feb. 27 and 28.

Continued on page 51

The “Spooky Halloween Show” was performed by theater students in Wheeler Courtyard Oct. 29.

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FALL PLAY:

The Good Person of Setzuan Above: Cast members gather on the set of a restaurant during the performance of the fall play.

Left: Lara McLeod ’10 (in the window), Timon Watkins ’11 (below), along with L’Oreal Lampley ’11, D.J. Wilson ’12 and Annetta O’Leru ’12.

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Hunter Gallery highlights Caroline Alexander ’12, Everett Muzzy ’11, Sam Peterson ’11, Lara McLeod ’10 and Polly Murray ’10 perform in the fall play.

Continued from page 49

If you haven’t been to the Hunter Gallery for an opening night reception, you may want to mark your calendar. Along with viewing the terrific art, you also get a chance to talk to the artist, and take in some student music performances. Gallery director and art teacher Lisa Ha nsel organizes the openings, which are a vibrant support of the arts.

This year’s events included shows by Karen Roarke (“Bubbles”), Joe McKendry (“Beneath the Streets of Boston”), Robert Booth (“Explorations and Annotations: Marker Marks and Memories”) and a faculty show, featuring art by Lisa and her husband, sculptor Mike Ha nsel ’76, photographer Kathr yn Lemay, and designer Ray Woishek ’89, the school’s web manager who teaches Visual Foundations and video.

Future events will include an opening reception for artist Susan Lyman on April 1, alumnus photographer Dan Mead ’65 (May 3 – May 16) and the Senior Art Show May 17.

Saxophonist Henr y Peterson ’10, pianist Hendrik Kits van Heyningen ’10 and violinist Laney Yang ’10 have been among featured performers at the receptions.

Top: Henry Peterson ’10 performs outside the Hunter Gallery on the opening night of Joe McHendry’s exhibit in November.

Bottom: Karen O’Roarke talks with students Liza Scholle ’13, Marianne Foss-Skiftesvik ’13 and Brooke Burrowes ’11 about her painting exhibit in September.

PHOTOS BY

R AY WOISHEK ’89

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Classrooms E A R N I N G

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Right: Math teacher Linda Evans reviews assignments with Liz Haskell ’12 and C.J. Park ’13.

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PHOTO BY

Above: Art students work on drawings in the Visual Foundations class.

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

PHOTO BY

R AY WOISHEK ’89

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KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY PHOTO BY

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY PHOTO BY

Above: Polina Godz ’11, a new student from Kharkiv, Ukraine, takes a break in Dragon Quad before heading to class.

Left: Liza Scholle ’13, Andrew Harris ’13 and Justin Jaikissoon ’12 work on their laptops in geometry class.

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Seventy-nine English and drama students got to take in some local theater—and advance their understanding of Shakespeare—when they went on a field trip in September.

The group got to see “Much Ado About Nothing” performed at the critically acclaimed Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, R.I. (The Gamm) was founded in 1984 as Alias Stage by seven members of the graduating class of Trinity Rep Conservatory Theatre in Providence.The trip was organized by English and drama teacher Betsy Durning. Several English classes were also scheduled to see a performance of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” at Trinity Rep. on Feb. 19.

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

I T’ S O NE THI NG TO READ I T; I T’ S ANO T HER T O SEE IT.

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KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY PHOTO BY

A newly created Writing Lab offering free writing help for all students is a big success, offering 90 conferences since its inception in September.

Under the leadership of English teacher A le x Myer s and staffed by members of the English Department, the lab saw 14 third formers, 13 fourth formers, 29 fifth formers and 34 sixth formers in its first two months of operation—and continues to offer dozens of appointments each month.

College application essays have been a hot topic.

Opposite page (top): Graham Knisley ’10 looks on as Hannah Coffin ’10, Molly Boyd ’10 and Campbell Shuford ’10 launch a potato in a physics class.

Opposite page (bottom): Carine Kanimba ’12.

Above: New student and fourth former Alex Elron ’12 reviews his schedule on the first day of school.

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Spotlight on

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Community Service O U T

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R am le h !

Celebrating more than 80 years of enriching the lives of urban youth

BY LISA CONWAY Camp Ramleh provides a summer camping experience for underprivileged children from Newport County and the surrounding area, and has done so for more than 80 years. The campers, ages 6-12, are referred by schools, past and current campers’ parents, and social service agencies including the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and the Florence Gray Center. The camp serves approximately 50 children each summer in three 5-day sessions: two for girls and one for boys. Some children

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are second- and even third-generation campers, and many return year after year.

The program for each child includes a week of overnight camping in tents at the Aquapaug Reservation in South Kingstown, R.I., a site owned and operated by the Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The campers, counselors and directors sleep in platform tents at the bottom of the hill (each tent holds up to six campers, plus one or two counselors).

Food is prepared at the top of the hill— about a half mile walk—in a kitchen trailer owned by Camp Ramleh. The top of the hill also has a large playing field, three

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shelters with picnic tables, a new bathroom facility with electricity and running water (absolute luxury compared to Ramleh’s earlier days), and a small cabin.

At camp, children learn how to live outdoors and how to respect and work closely with their peers. For many, Camp Ramleh provides their first extended stay away from their homes and families, and their first experience with “roughing it,” living in tents and bathing in a pond. While at camp, the children are expected to contribute to the camp community by helping with meal set-up and clean-up, keeping their tents and personal bunks tidy, and

CONWAY

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Camp Ramleh is supported at St. George’s by the Used Bookstore, Chapel donations, dramatic production proceeds, vending machine sales, various student fundraisers, and by the annual year-end rummage sale. Our program is also largely funded by private donations and by local and national grants.

For more information on the Camp Ramleh program, to contribute your own stories to the next Camp Ramleh newsletter, or to inquire about staff positions for future Camp Ramleh seasons, please contact Lisa Conway, Executive Director, at lisa_conway@stgeorges.edu or (401) 842-6746.

participating in all camp activities. In addition, the campers are offered lessons in swimming, arts and crafts, and sports, and the older campers are encouraged to take on leadership roles with their peers. We hope and expect that these skills and values will be carried back with the campers to their families and communities.

Camp activities include swimming at our waterfront on Worden Pond, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hiking, arts and crafts, sports (basketball, baseball, soccer, kickball, spud), dancing, campfires, and talent shows. Scavenger hunts, all-camp activities, picnic lunches, and evenings at the local park are frequently planned. There is one

special outing each session (bowling and roller skating are popular choices), plus weekly trips to Burlingame State Park and a barbecue on the last night of camp.

Camp traditions include stories of “Krazy Kate” (a fictitious, frightening recluse who lives on an island across the lake and gets angry if campers are noisy at bedtime), frog hunting in the BB field, roasting marshmallows and telling stories around the campfire, and the Levey Awards, named for a former director and given to each camper on the last day of camp to recognize such talents and accomplishments as “best hip-hop dancer,” “most improved swimmer,” “best frog-catcher,” “bravest

camper,” and “coolest hairdo.”

The Camp Ramleh experience affects everyone involved, and St. George’s students who choose to participate have an enormous impact on the program. Each summer, 10-12 counselors are hired to share their enthusiasm, talents, and leadership skills with the group. Counselors work tirelessly to design and implement the camp program, to be role models for the campers, and to insure that camp activities are safe and fun.

Lis a Co nw ay is the executive director of Camp Ramleh. She can be reached at Lisa_Conway@stgeorges.edu.

“I can’t remember anyone ever feeling sorry he’d been involved with Camp Ramleh.”

William Buell ’42, former counselor and director, and son of Camp Ramleh’s founder HISTORY The 1927 Lance first reported the inaugural season of Camp Ramleh. “The summer of 1926 marked the opening of a new school activity, the operation of a summer camp for city boys otherwise unable to enjoy an outing in the country,” the report began.

William A. Buell ’14 volunteered his services as director and Dr. William P. Buffum ’06, donated the use of land on Lake Yawgoo, three miles west of Kingston, R.I. According to Mr. Buell’s son, William Buell ’42, Buell would become a dedi-

cated, compassionate presence at the camp for the next 25 years.

He became known to the campers as “Gramps,” Buell wrote. “When the elderly cook, Ed King, was struck down by diabetes in the 1940s, “Gramps” took over those duties (in a tiny, sweltering kitchen), drafting St. George’s graduates, including his three sons, to take on the camp directorship.”

Others who served in that capacity were Tim King ’35, Harry Dixon ’36, Jimmy Congdon ’41, and Ivan Obolensky ’43, according to Buell.

On site was an old cabin—and alumni,

parents, and members of the faculty donated money to construct an addition, and to buy the necessary equipment, which ranged from tents to boats.

“At the same time, the boys contributed readily to a second fund for operating the camp, individual gifts being supplemented by the proceeds of the Paint and Powder club and the sale of ice cream at the baseball games and school picnics,” the Lance reported.

Fifteen boys from Providence, the first campers, arrived in Kingston on July 12, marking the official opening of the camp.

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‘Striving for a better life’ Campers find a comforting, hopeful place at Ramleh At Camp Ramleh, my favorite activities are roller skating and swimming and playing with my friends at the lake. My favorite counselor is Leigh, because every night that she sleeps in the tent she keeps the flashlight on all night because I am scared. She also reads lots of books. My favorite meal is BLT sandwiches. Krazy Kate lives across the lake in a red house on a little island and is scary. Mad Max is a nice person who protects little kids and brings us marshmallows and s’mores. Last year on a mystery hunt we went to Mad Max’s house, but didn’t go upstairs. I drew a picture of his house in my nature book. Camp Ramleh has taught me to be nice to friends and to respect each other.

—Selena Colon, age 10, current camper For me, attending Ramleh as a camper was life-changing. Several of the counselors took me under their wing and were like big brothers. They also encouraged me to apply to St. George’s, which frankly was not a realistic option for someone from my background. My biggest supporter during the first summer was Martin Slusser. He dared me to dream big and he had so much faith in me that I eventually started to believe in myself. Marty would actually make me study vocabulary words after lunch to prepare for my SSATs and made me run with him in the morning to get in shape and build character. More importantly, he taught me how to set goals and strive for a better life. The torch was passed the next summer to John Zane and Peter Massey who took it upon themselves to drive to Maine and convince then Headmaster Tony Zane to give me a chance. According to Massey, he told Mr. Zane “Kettelle might not be that bright, but he’ll work hard and has a lot of heart.” Evidently, they were good salesmen and I did get in. A lot of the good things that have happened to me wouldn’t have come to fruition if it weren’t for a group of counselors that took an interest. To me, that is what Camp Ramleh is all about.

—Joe Kettelle ’78, former camper and counselor

‘Making a difference’ Counselors at Camp Ramleh help create memories of a lifetime Throughout my first summer working at Ramleh, I knew that my hard work was making a difference in the lives of the campers.

However, it wasn’t until that last day that I realized how much my efforts had a lasting impression on their lives. We were driving the vans back to school after successfully finishing camp. All of the counselors were exhausted and just the mere thought of show-

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ers ahead kept us going. We crossed the Newport Bridge and were driving on the highway

by Walmart when I saw three young girls walking along the side of the busy street. I thought they looked like campers from two sessions before, but I was not sure. As we drove closer, Diane, Stephanie, and Victoria immediately saw the familiar SG vans driving on the highway. They stopped walking and

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waved excitedly and blew kisses to us. They started jumping up and down and reaching out for air hugs to our bus. I watched them from the back window until they were out of my vision. I wanted to jump out of the car and make sure they were safe walking along a road that I would never think of walking on.

But, the driver pressed on and I gradually lost their image.

This was a profound experience for me and it really helped me understand how my work as a counselor enabled the children to have an experience that they might not otherwise have been granted in their home experiences. I was a bit shocked to see such young girls walking along a highly traveled street and I finally was able to realize that their experience at camp was more than just a chance to get away from the difficult home environments; it was a chance to experience hope and joy in life.

—Courtney Jones ’10, current counselor Although the first glimpse I had of “scenic” Camp Ramleh wasn’t exactly appealing, I soon learned to love the disintegrating cabins, the monotonous menu, the pungent smelling outhouses, two skits a day and, yes ... even mud. I did have my doubts about whether or not I could actually live on “beautiful” Indian Lake for an entire month, but after the first group of kids arrived on a cold, rainy day, my whole perception changed.

None of the kids seemed to mind too much that they couldn’t take showers or that they had to sleep on “funky” mattresses, and when they didn’t care, I didn’t mind either. Despite the fact that they hit each other, swore (constantly)… and never went to sleep, they all made my summer a truly unforgettable one.

Sweet dreams ...

—Lyerly Spongberg ’85, contribution written in 1983 for a Ramleh scrapbook I have many great memories of Camp Ramleh. My twin sister, Sandra Whitehouse, Beth Johnson (Nixon) and I were trailblazers as the first group of female counselors at the camp. It was the summer of 1976 when we made our way down the bumpy unpaved road to Ramleh. We were given the “luxurious” bunk house to live in, which was a log cabin equipped with old metal bunk beds.

The loo was an outhouse in the woods—not

too easy to navigate in the dark.

We greeted our first set of campers on the second day. Some returning campers viewed the new “girl counselors” with skepticism but we soon became friends or big sisters to the boys. Our weeks at Ramleh were filled with art projects, swims in the lake, softball games and campfires. It was very difficult to say goodbye to the campers at the end of the sessions and to take them home to places that just did not seem safe or welcoming. Even years later my time spent at Ramleh remains in my memory as an important part of my St. George’s experience.

—Elena Kissel ’77, former counselor In 1950, I was a counselor at Camp Ramleh and was shocked at all the cameras, radios and equipment the boys (no girls then) had.

Weren’t they poor? But, then, perhaps in other ways. I remember buying a pair of shrink-to-fit jeans, and then volunteering to help on the sailing program so I could get them good and wet during the day so they would dry at night. I was in charge of capsizing the sailboat and showing the kids how to survive. We got soaked every day but wow did those jeans fit well by the end of the two-week session.

After graduating in 1952, I went back to Ramleh for a month as the camp cook. Imagine me as a cook. But, Headmaster Bill Buell got a hold of me in the early spring and floated the idea. I thought about it for maybe one minute and said: “Dr. Buell, I haven’t the slightest idea how to cook and besides the stove in camp runs off of kerosene.” Dr. Buell responded in typical fashion: “You’ll do well.

I’ll show you how.” (My eyes well up with tears even now when I remember that saintly man.) “Well! OK!” And he was there opening day and spent that day and the next getting

me going. Then, he came back on Sunday and we cooked a turkey in the oven of that kerosene stove. It was delicious!

Dr. Buell’s son, Bill, was the head counselor then and my job was to get up ahead of everyone and make coffee with definite instructions to bring a cup to Bill first and after placing it by his head, to grab his foot and shake it to wake him up. We all were up early and to bed late so that coffee helped carry us. My experiences there were wonderful and I encourage SGers today to devote a portion of their summer to working there.

—George Peterson ’52, former counselor I was in the class of 1949 at St. George’s, the one that just had its 60th reunion. I was a counselor at Camp Ramleh in the summer of 1948, between my fifth- and sixth-form years and I was both young for my class, 16, and small for my age. So that is the setting.

It turns out that one of the campers, a black kid who was bigger than I and I don’t know his age, for some reason wanted to box with me—bare-handed, of course. I suspect he just wanted to beat the hell out of a counselor and thought he could. I certainly couldn’t back down, but I somewhat shared his thoughts. What he didn’t know was that my father had taught me how to box at a young age, and I leveled him to the astonishment of the entire Camp, which had gathered at ringside. That kid and I got along famously after that—a good growing-up experience for both of us.

The entire Camp Ramleh experience is one that I have treasured to this day. I am so glad it continues to enrich the lives of all involved.

—Tom McLane ’49, former counselor

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Julia Carrellas ’11 and Katie McCormack ’11 with two local school children at the annual Star Kids Learn-to-Skate program in the Cabot/Harman Ice Center.

Community Service news...

Dress Down Days continue to be a major source of support to local, national and international charities close to the hearts of community members. Among the entities benefiting from the outpouring of generosity from the sale of $3 DDD bracelets have been: the family of Victoria Powell, a Middletown 10-year-old with a brain tumor and massive medical expenses; Doctors Without Borders, “an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters, or exclusion from health care in nearly 60 countries;” Partners in Health, which operated health care clinics for the poor, including Haiti; Child & Family Services of Newport County; and TownshipHelp, formed in 2004 to help children in the townships in South Africa have a chance for a better and secure future. Dress Down Days are organized by the Community Service Council, headed by students Ca rl Ni gh tin gal e ’10, Ra c he l Se llsto ne ’11 and H ill ar y Wei n ’11, and faculty member L uc y Go l dste in.

And that’s not all for the Community Service Council. The council this year has been busy on several fronts, including orches-

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trating a change in our annual day of service, which used to take place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January. Now students will spend St. George’s Day, April 23, working on service projects, which, because of exams in January, faculty advisor Lu c y Go ld ste in says is “more advantageous for student schedules, as well as agencies we want to help.” The CSC has also added two “Camp Ramleh Days” to the schedule, during which we invite all the Camp Ramleh campers to campus for a Sunday of lunch, fun, and games with SG students. They’ve partnered with the Newport Education Foundation to publicize SG’s free tutoring program for Newport and Middletown elementary kids.

Also with the help of the Community Service Council, who coordinated the trip, students and faculty will participate in the fourth annual Habitat for Humanity trip during Spring Break in March. Once again, the group will travel to Mobile, Ala., to work with Habitat for a week building houses and exploring the area. The trip has been “a great opportunity to help people, learn how to build a house, and really connect with your classmates and teachers outside of school,” according to science teacher Devon Ducharme.

Ducharme and Director of Operations George Staples will lead this year’s trip.

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A special “head of school’s Dress Down Day,” called by Head of School Eric Peterson, took place in October after it was learned that St. George’s Church in Baghdad was damaged in a bomb attack on Oct. 25. After a 2008 visit to St. George’s from the church’s leader, The Reverend Canon Andrew White, St. George’s Baghdad holds a special place in our hearts.

White reported that his church’s compound, health clinic, bookshop, the school rooms and other buildings sustained heavy damage in the attack.

Outside the church, at least 132 people were killed and more than 600 injured.

“Today was a terrible day for us. But even in the blood and trauma and turmoil, there are things for which we can, and indeed must, praise our God,” White wrote in a letter to friends and community members. “The carnage was terrible, but it could have been even worse. At 10:30 a.m. this morning, when the bombs exploded, there was no one in the church. If the bomb had been just a few hours later, the glass from the windows would have ripped through the congregation causing terrible human damage.”

The nearly $2,000 raised by the SG community helped the church immensely, White reported back.

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Clockwise from top left: Dominique Samuel ’13 plays the Jester in the 2009 Christmas Festival; Evelyn Maldonado ’11, Polly Murray ’10 and Grace Owens-Stively ’10 are angels; McKenzie Nagle ’13, a page, delivers notes in King Hall; Chris Chew ’11, Timon Watkins ’11 and Scott Yang ’11 play the roles of the Three Kings in the Chapel.

R AY WOISHEK ’89

H R I S T M A S

PHOTOS BY

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PHOTO BY

SIMON HARDT ’11

Traditions

Fifth-Form Ski Weekend Jan. 23-25, 2010 Loon Mountain, Lincoln, NH

Fifth formers Magdalena FranzeSoeln, Katherine Wilkinson and Haley Congdon get ready to hit the slopes.

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oday’s juniors might not know it, but the tradition of Fifth Form Ski Weekend dates back to 1978. Fr e d Ta y l o r ’79 decided he wanted to do something for his class “that would promote class unity and be fun.”

“Since I was from Colorado, naturally I chose a ski trip to New Hampshire,” he says, “and made the necessary calls and contacts to make it happen.”

Not that it was just that easy.

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“The biggest obstacle was to convince Za n e , H o l l i n s and S c h e n c k that it was a great idea,” he says.

The tradition continues, and Taylor, now the principal of Northstar Investment Advisors in Denver, says he’s thrilled.

“At the time I had no clue that we had started a tradition, let alone one that would be going strong 32 years later!”

SUZANNE MCGRADY PHOTO BY

51st annual

PHOTO BY

SUZANNE MCGRADY

Pie Race

Top: Race organizer Doug Lewis prepares runners for the start of the Annual Pie Race.

Above: Freshman Robbie Citrino get a piggyback from No. 66 Mack Feldman ’11.

Red & White Editor-in-Chief H e nd ri k Ki t s va n H eyn in ge n ’10 doesn’t consider writing headlines one of his favorite tasks, but when he came up with this one, he practically got a round of applause from his editorial staff: “Moore needed more to chase Hatch at race finish.” OK, I guess you had to be there. But it was right after the annual Pie Race and Ch a se H a tc h ’12 of Hingham, Mass. had just out-sprinted Tu ck er Mo o re ’10 of Bermuda to claim victory. And all in all the results lent themselves well to some wit from the community.

“Hatch, who completed the 1.1 mile course with a time of 6:34, led the race from start to finish while being pushed by Moore, Emil Henry ’11 (third place) of Katonah, N.Y., and Kyle Pearson ’12 (fourth place) of Garden City, N.Y.,” wrote Math Department Chair and race organizer Doug Lewis. “Exchange student Campbell Frost ’12 of Capetown, South Africa, finished fifth in a time of 7:04—and won the prize for being the fastest finisher born south of the equator.”

And so goes the flurry of creativity among the more “math types” on campus.

Hats off to legendary physics teacher and track coach Ted Hersey, who devised the race back in 1959 as a way of bolstering school spirit. It’s not every day we get such literary entertainment from the numbers brigade.

Wrapping up his end of race report, Lewis noted: “A total of 89 students, teachers, staff members, faculty children, dogs, and ninjas finished this year’s race.”

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On board N

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MIKE DAWSON

Heartfelt victory PHOTO COURTESY OF

Navigating through a narrow channel, the crew unites

BY JOSEPH MACK ’12

Joe Mack ’12 takes part in one of the key marine life studies of the Geronimo program: tagging sea turtles for biological research.

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Note: The fall crew of Geronimo left Newport on Oct. 1 and returned from the Bahamas on Nov. 19. On the boat with Captain Mike Dawson were Katie Desrosiers ’12, Emma Garfield ’12, Olivia Gebelein ’11, Erin Hendrix ’12, Halsey Huth ’12, Joe Mack ’12, Elizabeth Manning ’12 and Sadie McQuilkin ’12.

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aving sailed on Geronimo for five weeks, we were all pretty used to the experience of being a Junior Watch Officer. When Captain Mike Dawson first explained the concept to us we were

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unfazed. Why couldn’t we operate the ship we had been living on for more than a month? Captain Dawson was always there to offer guidance: “What do you think about that boat over there?” or “Is that a squall up ahead?” But ultimately, we called the shots and took responsibility for all the mistakes we made.

By the time we sailed into Warderick Wells we had all been the JWO at least once and knew it to be a stressful job. I still remember Captain Dawson’s advice: “Be three, four, five steps ahead; Got a plan? Scrap it; Make a new one; What happens if…” There were always more questions than I had answers.

PHOTO COURTESY OF F LICKR . COM

To get to our mooring we had to navigate through a narrow channel edged by an island on our right and a sandbar on our left. The wind was directly on our nose along with a steadily growing current. Erin was the JWO and I was on the jib sheet.

The command from Captain Dawson: “Erin, I want to be able to throw a penny on the island before we tack.” We crept closer and closer; Halsey and I were on the jib winches and Olivia pulled the sheets in by hand. With each inch our anxiety grew. Unable to challenge our superior watch officer, yet concerned with our ability to complete the tack fast enough, I kept my mouth shut while my mind screamed in objection.

Finally, Erin gave the order:

one. I shouted encouragement over the helm to Halsey, my mirror on the port winch. He reciprocated with his own roars. The current was so strong that, despite our increasingly efficient tacks, we were moving backwards and were forced to finish the last 50 yards under diesel power. Hands blistered beyond the belief of anyone without sailing experience and muscles aching, it was a victory of heart. The accomplishment was in the bonding of crewmembers under the absolute authority of the JWO. Jo sep h Ma c k ’12 is from Bristol, R.I. He can be reached at Joe_Mack@stgeorges.edu.

Above: Warderick Wells, Exumas, Bahamas.

Below: Joe Mack’ 12 takes the helm while Erin Hendrix ’12 takes a photo, and Elizabeth Manning ’12 and Emma Garfield ’12 chart Geronimo’s course.

“Ready about!”

The instantaneous reply: “Ready!”

“Helm’s a-lee!”

MIKE DAWSON

My winch, which was ready to tack 100 meters ago, buzzed. I could feel the blood pumping in my neck. My hands became independent of my body, a tool with which I could tame the billowing jib. I latched my hands to the sheet and jerked my body backwards. Each jerking effort was contained by the force of the sail, causing the line to slide through my numb hands. I added a final wrap and started to crank on the winch. My hands returned to my body, round and round they went as my arms and shoulders burned. Faster and faster and then relief finally came with Erin’s command:

“That’s well.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF

Adrenaline had taken over. The command was no longer questioned and the pain was cloaked by excitement. Instead of worrying about when to tack, I was consumed with the idea of executing a perfect

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In Brief E

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The Rev. John Byron Diman inducted into R.I. hall of fame

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ith the founding of two Ocean State schools on his resume, the Rev. John Byron Diman was a shoe-in for a recent posthumous honor: induction into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

Founded in March 1965 “to honor the contributions of those whose efforts, in any line of endeavor, have added significantly to the heritage of the State of Rhode Island,” the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame doled out the honor on Sunday, Nov. 15, noting Diman’s educational achievements.

Head of School Eric Peterson attended the ceremony to accept the citation.

Diman was the only child of J. Lewis and Emily G. (Stimson) Diman, according to “New England families, genealogical and

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memorial” edited by William Richard Cutter. “He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Brown University in 1885 and received an honorary master’s degree in 1903. He entered Cambridge Episcopal Theological School, from which he graduated in 1888 with a bachelor of divinity degree. He was ordained a deacon of the Episcopal church at Providence in 1888 and officiated as minister in charge of St. Columba’s Chapel in Middletown in 1892.”

He received a master’s degree from Harvard in 1896, the same year he founded St. George’s School for Boys in Newport, later moving to our current location.

Diman was a member of a prominent Rhode Island family whose milestones were often reported in the media. A Dec. 28, 1917,

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New York Times news brief noted Diman’s conversion to Catholicism. Byron, whose headmastership at St. George’s ended in 1916, was “on duty with the naval force of the Second Naval District” at the time of the report.

Diman “has become a convert to the Catholic religion and joined St. Joseph’s church,” the news report noted.

He founded Portsmouth Priory, now Portsmouth Abbey, in Portsmouth, R.I., in 1926. (He also founded Diman Regional, a vocational technical high school in Fall River, Mass.).

Portraits of inductees to the Heritage Hall of Fame currently hang in the halls of the Rhode Island Historical Society Museum of Rhode Island History at Aldrich House, 110 Benevolent St., in Providence.

Campus happenings

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“Brown Bag Lunch” topics included engineering, AIDS and the environment

R AY WOISHEK ’89

Science Department gatherings spark talk of contemporary issues

Science Department Chair Holly Williams welcomes the crowd before Trustee Jonathan Isham, Jr. ’78 leads a discussion on the 2009 Climate Conference. Kelly Blynn ’03, in Copenhagen, appears via Skype.

Physics teacher Bob Wein, biology teachers Tom Evans and Heath Capello, and alums Jonathan Isham, Jr. ’78 and Kelly Blynn ’03 were the featured presenters for a newlyestablished series of “Brown Bag Lunches” organized this school year by Science Department Chair Ho ll y Wi lli a ms.

Williams says she plans to offer a periodic opportunity for members of the school community to gather and discuss science topics with guests offering expertise in

different areas of the field. So far the lunches have included talks on engineering, AIDS and the environment.

Wein reported on a summer program in which he participated with 11 other Rhode Island high-school science teachers to learn about modern systems engineering. The group, which spent several weeks at Paramount Solutions in Middletown, was tasked with devising a scheme to make the control center of a nuclear submarine operate more efficiently. Evans reported on his work with

AIDS experts in helping to redesign the curriculum for A.P. Biology. And Capello gave a report on “Photosynthesis in the Muddy Mississippi.”

Isham and Blynn teamed up to report on the December Climate Conference in Copenhagen. Isham, a Middlebury College professor who was heading to the talks, arranged a video conference with Blynn, co-founder of the environment group 350.org and a former student of Isham’s, who was in Denmark when the talk took place.

Biology teacher Tom Evans discusses AIDS.

Physics teacher Bob Wein describes a nuclear submarine engineering project.

Biology teacher Heath Capello outines his research of photosynthesis on the bayou.

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Author/deejay/teacher Craig ’93 delivers MLK Day chapel talk “I am living the dream …”

To dd Cra ig, who graduated from St. George’s in 1993 and continues to pursue his dreams as an author, teacher and deejay—all while working toward a Ph.D.—was the guest speaker in chapel for the annual Martin Luther King Day service on Jan. 18.

Craig, whose 2008 novel “tor’cha” (Swank Publishers, 2008) was accompanied by music tracks, said his love of music inspired him to write, and his desire to give back to his home community has inspired him to teach.

Craig, a recipient of the scholarship program, A Better Chance, grew up in the Ravenswood and Queensbridge Housing projects in the New ork City borough of Queens. He currently teaches English Composition at Queensborough Community College.

“Without Queens, I simply would not be,” he once wrote, “and there’s not a minute of it, good or bad, that I would trade, switch or swap.”

“Tor’cha” tells the story of three city youths “as they’re faced with the perils and hardships that run rampant throughout the ghetto.”

Craig knows the turf: Coming to St. George’s was an opportunity for Craig to escape the perils of his own home neighborhood.

However, it wasn’t until he contracted a potentially deadly infection, he said, that he realized he was truly blessed.

Craig, who was diagnosed with a nearly fatal case of meningitis as a fifth former at SG, said he would never forget how the illness—“I remember the spinal tap”—plucked him from his daily routine. “Now, I am

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living the dream—the dream of life,” he said.

His mission since his brush with death has been to pursue his love of the arts, while keeping “the barrel of Queens close to his heart.”

“I escaped death, so shouldn’t I consider that the dream?” he asked.

He urged students to remember the hopes of Martin Luther King, Jr. in their own way. For him, he said, it was partly to remember that without King, “There would be no collective, no black and white together.” But he also urged students to remember that King’s dreams haven’t fully been realized.

“There’s still much work to do ... We can never be satisfied,” he said.

He recalled that once, during his time at St. George’s, he participated in a game of one-on-one basketball with the late Headmaster Emeritus Chuck Hamblet. “He told me, ‘Change is a slow-moving ship,’” Craig said. “I said, ‘Let’s make it a fast-moving speedboat!’”

Craig hasn’t stopped working to see his own dreams fulfilled either. In 1997, he received a bachelor’s degree from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., and was awarded a Rockefeller Brothers Fellowship to attend Harvard University where he later received a master’s degree in education.

He has traveled throughout the country to writing residencies at the Ucross Foundation, Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow and Jentel Foundation, and he was an Associate Artist at Atlantic Center for the Arts with Anne Waldman.

As a writer, Craig works in many genres including fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and screenplay writing. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at St. John’s University in New York. His dissertation will examine hip-hop pedagogy and the function of the hip-hop DJ in the English Composition classroom.

St. George’s, he said, offers the perfect foundation for hope and fulfilling King’s dreams.

“I have faith that you are all equipped” to go out into the world and keep alive those dreams, he said.

The MLK chapel service, organized by Director of Diversity Kim Bullock and the members of the student clubs Insight and the Multicultural Group, also featured several student music performances.

The performances also included the student a cappella groups, the Snapdragons and the Hilltoppers.

A duet of “I Sing Because I’m Free,” by L’Orea l Lampley ’11 and Lara McLeod ’10, to end the service prompted a standing ovation. Audio files of the service and musical performances can be downloaded from the SG web site log-in page at www.stgeorges.edu/podium.

CHA PEL DONO RS TR EATED TO SPECIAL CHRISTMAS PROGR AM Donors in the Friends of the Chapel program were treated to a special Service of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas, which took place Friday, Dec. 11, between performances for the school and the community.

A special thanks for the special event went out to

members of the SG Choir and the Handbell Choir, headed by faculty members Cla re Gesu al do, SG choirmaster, and Wen dy Dr ys da le, director of the handbell choir.

“At the reception following the program, every Friend I spoke with expressed absolute delight with the music,” reported Assistant Head of School for External Affairs J o e G o u l d . “One former parent, who had returned for the occasion, said that she hoped never to miss Lessons and Carols ever again.”

One particularly interested audience member was chapel friend Nicholas Brown, the son of the donor of the chapel, the late John Nicholas Brown ’18.

“Mr. Brown said how much he enjoyed seeing the chapel filled with music and the spirit of Christmas,” Gould said.

L’Oreal Lampley’11 and Lara McLeod ’10 perform at the Martin Luther King Day Chapel Service.

VISITING STRING ENSEMBLE PERFORMS FOR THE SG COMMUNIT Y With coordination from Head of the Music Department C l a r e G e s u a l d o , the String Ensemble from the Dwight-Englewood School, an independent day school for pre-school to grade 12 in Englewood, N.J., stopped at St. George’s on Thursday, Jan. 28 for a performance during chapel. The group, wowing those in attendance, was on a tour of the Northeast. They performed two musical selections—one Vivaldi, one Shubert—amid the Lessons and the Offertory.

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WULSIN ’10

Campus happenings

Students participate in a candlelight vigil to raise awareness of global warming.

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ANDREA HANSEN

John Adams ’73 with his family, which include current students Katherine ’12 and Virginia ’11, attends Parents Weekend in October.

R AY WOISHEK ’89

Left: Dr. Chris Thurber of Phillips Exeter Academy presents a workshop to the faculty entitled “Cracking Kids’ Secret Code,” about ways to communicate with students effectively.

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Right: Author Cathy Bao Bean discusses her book, “The Chopsticks-Fork Principle: A Memoir and Manual,” about being Chinese in America.

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The cast of the winter musical got an extra-special visit from a seasoned actor. B il l Bu el l ’70, son of Honorary Trustee Wi lli am A . Bu el l ’42 and father of Cha rl ie B ue ll ’06, stopped by Madeira Hall in January.

Bill Buell’s long list of stage and screen credits includes a role in the 2002 Tony Award-winning production of “Urinetown, the Musical,” which the St. George’s students are scheduled to perform for the public Feb. 27 and 28. Buell gave advice to the cast—along with a pep talk.

What Tuc ker Ca rlso n ’87 described back in May 2009 as a “Right-Leaning Huffington Post” is now the recently-launched online news site “The Daily Caller.”

Carlson (whom we personally adore for his support of freedom of the press in the world—and in the Red & White) first made public his new venture after being hired by Fox-TV last spring.

His site (www.dailycaller.com), which went live Jan. 11, features news, analysis and commentary commissioned from hired writers and culled from news sources across the U.S. A recent check of headlines included stories such as “Keith Olbermann is a serious journalist: We watch, because we’re paid to” by the Call’s own

Ruth Graham, and “Former John Edwards aide buries ex-boss in tell-all book” published by New York magazine.

Al l i e Si mo ns ’05 will be running in the 2010 Boston Marathon in honor of classmate John “Quatro” Kiley ’05, who drowned in waters off Osterville, Mass., Aug. 23. Simons, who is running for the Melanoma Team, can be reached at allie.le.simons@gmail.com.

At the time of his death, Kiley was a senior at St. Edward’s University studying bioinformatics.

Services were held Aug. 28, with a gathering including many of Quatro’s SG mates, at the Wianno Yacht Club in Osterville. A procession of boats left the club and headed toward Nantucket Sound to spread his ashes.

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adopt, as the farm also raises cattle.

Now Milliken’s farm is not only “green,” but friendly, as well: The ranch even makes firewood available to area residents – “when energy prices are of concern.”

Pa tr ic k E ha r t ’06 was in the lead photo in the Boston Globe Sept. 19, 2009, accompanying a story about a class he’s taking at Babson College called “The Ultimate Entrepreneurial Challenge” with Len Green, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship. Ehart, a former Red & White editor who started a bottled water business on Cape Cod while at St. George’s, seemed destined to continue on in his studies of business. The class is modeled on Donald Trump’s reality TV show “The Apprentice.” No word yet on whether Ehart has heard Green utter, “You’re fired,” but we don’t think it’s likely.

This photo, courtesy of Conservation Focus, a publication of the National Resources Conservation Service, shows a farm in northern New Mexico owned

by Sandy Milliken ’65 after overgrowth was cleared.

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Forward-thinking conservation practices at a farm in northern New Mexico owned by S a n dy M il l i ke n ’65 were featured this fall in Conservation Focus, a publication of the National Resources Conservation Service.

Milliken’s farm, which puts a premium on earthfriendly “watershed conservation, forest management, cooperative conservation, and inclusion of the historically underserved” is a prime example of the good things going on in the Tierra y Montes Soil & Water Conservation District, land use experts said.

“When Milliken purchased the meandering ranch near Las Vegas, N.M. four years ago, much of its forest was clogged with overgrowth, and the spread had just two wells that only pumped one gallon per minute,” the newsletter reports. “After the ranch was purchased, ranch manager Kenny Alderete turned to an eager cadre of local, state, and federal agencies, as well as relying on the ranch’s own resources, and began the task of putting the best conservation on the ground for the ranch.”

The agencies helped the farm initiate a forest stand improvement thinning and aid as “water sources were developed, pipeline laid and cross fencing installed.”

They also prescribed grazing management practices to

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A new book by Co rinn Co lump ar ’88 called “Unsettling Sights: The Fourth World on Film” (Southern Illinois University Press) is due out in March. Columpar, who received her bachelor’s degree in mathematical economics at Yale University in 1992 and her Ph.D. in women’s studies at Emory University in 2002, is now an associate professor of cinema studies and English at the University of Toronto. An anthology coedited by Columpar called “There She Goes: Feminist Filmmaking and Beyond” was published in October.

The books are available at www.amazon.com.

Ba il ey Seybo lt ’04 has been appointed managing editor of The Word, a glossy magazine based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Found on the web at www.wordhcmc.com, the magazine markets itself as “a guide to what’s going on in Vietnam.”

“I’ve been writing for the Saigon-based magazine for the last six months,” Seybolt reported in August, “but I will be working for the new Hanoi-based magazine we’re launching sometime this fall.”

Recent articles of Seybolt’s include a feature on a new Hanoi restaurant called Don’s, operated by the former Ritz-Carlton head chef, Donald Berger.

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t wasn’t your average year in fundraising—and so when it came time on Oct. 2 to naming the recipient of the Philip Murray Reynolds Annual Giving Volunteer of the Year Award for 2009, the Development Office decided to go alternative. Normally given to “an individual whose leadership and enthusiasm has had a profound effect on the year’s Annual Fund campaign,” the award this year was given to all of the challengers who donated in the highly successful “Flat is the New Up!” campaign, which helped St. George’s meet its more than $2.2 million Annual Fund goal.

“This past year posed an extraordinary challenge to fundraising and yet our Annual Fund still met its goal—a goal established in February 2008, long before we understood the depth of the economic crisis,” wrote Assistant Head of School External Affairs Joe Go uld. “While all our individual volunteers made valiant efforts, our heroes were those who stepped forward in early May when the situation was most dire—the 25 parents and alumni/ae who posed the “Flat is the New Up!” Challenge. Together, they provided the wherewithal, commitment and enthusiasm to catapult our Annual Fund to success.”

Gould put the accomplishment into perspective: “On April 24, the Annual Fund was short of its $2,225,000 goal by $550,000 and gifts had slowed to a trickle,” he noted. “The challenge idea was conceived during the following week. By Thursday, May 14, our

FITNU Challengers had committed collectively $250,000 and had offered a one-to-one challenge to our entire St. George’s constituency. The “Flat is the New Up!” Challenge was off and running and the FITNU Challengers were our biggest cheerleaders, with their e-mails, letters and telephone calls. By June 24, we had maximized the Challenge with 651 gifts totaling $250,000. By July 3, we had received 813 gifts bringing our Annual Fund total (in cash) to $2,233,339.”

As a result of the “Flat is the New Up!” Challenge, the School received gifts totaling almost $560,000, exceeding its goal by $8,339, and only fell short of its record-setting 2007-08 year by 1.4 percent. The 813 gifts received were an incredible 40 percent of the total number of gifts for the entire year.

Among the challengers who were able to attend the awards ceremony in October were SG Board of Trustees Chair S kip Bra n in ’65, board members B o b Du co mmu n ’69, Chri s El ia ’92, Les lie H ea ney ’92, Jo e H oo p es ’62, We ndy K a ufma n P’09, P ho eb e Mu zzy P’06, ’09, ’11 and Ch ar lie Wat so n ’50, along with Honorary Trustee Al Me rck ’39, and parents Lin da Sta bl er-Ta lt y P’11 and P et er Tal ty P’11.

The Philip Murray Reynolds Annual Giving Volunteer of the Year Award was established in 1981, in memory of P hil Reyno lds ’42, the school’s director of development and alumni/ae affairs from 1974 to 1979.

Chair of the SG Board of Trustees Skip Branin ’65 and Head of School Eric Peterson accept the Reynolds Award on behalf of the 25 “Flat is the New Up!” campaign challengers.

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Right: “No parking” signs come down in September on Diman Quad.

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Below: Julia Carrellas ’11 runs the ball for the fifth formers during a popular “Powder Puff ” football game in November.

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Above: Move-in Day on the Hilltop featured some heavy lifting by seniors Stephanie Johnson, Kinyette Henderson, Shealagh Coughlin, Charlotte Deavers, Ramona Bass and Maria Gebelein.

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Leiter Colburn ’11, Maia Monell ’11 and Micah Kittel ’11 take a break on Diman Quad during the first day of school.

John Karol ’10, Brice Berg ’12, Michael Alberg ’11, and Tao Jatusripitak ’10 perform in the Rock Guild on Jan. 10, 2010.

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SUZANNE MCGRADY

Our new Dining Service Director, Le n Ja ck so n, and his staff from Sage Dining Services have gotten the community to rethink our food choices after the company took over the contract to run King Hall this year. Sage, which has more than 150 clients, mostly independent schools, revolves menu choices around regional specialties and available fresh produce. Already carnivores, as well as vegetarians—and even vegans—are singing their praises.

Braised kale, anyone?

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Using a mallet and chisel, Paul Russo carves the lettering on the memorial stone in the St. George’s Chapel dedicated to the memory of former trustee He nr y Pa tt on ’31. Russo is a stone carver for the Brooke Roberts Studio of Newport, which has designed all of our modern memorial stones. Three memorial stones were installed in January: for Patton, for parent and trustee H en r y H a rde r P’79, ’83, and for longtime English teacher and swim coach Norrie Hoyt.

The first stone carving in the chapel began with the stone for founder John Byron Diman and the coat-of-arms above the Bishop’s Door, crafted by the famed stone carver John Howard Benson, who purchased the John Stevens Shop (founded in 1705 and located at 29 Thames Street in Newport) in 1927.

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1975 • 35th

1940 • 70th

1980 • 30th

1945 • 65th

1985 • 25th

1950 • 60th

1990 • 20th

th

1995 • 15th

1960 • 50th

2000 • 10th

1955 • 55

1965 • 45

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2005 • 5th

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Mark your calendars for another great Reunion Weekend in May, says Reunion Weekend coordinator Ann Weston.

Scheduled events begin Friday, May 14, and are of special note to reunion classes. As usual, the weekend kicks off on Friday evening with the presentation of the St. George’s distinguished alumnus/a award, the Diman Award, which this year will be given to journalist K a te Ze rni ke ’86. A welcome reception as well as a variety of evening events for individual reunion classes will follow the Diman Award presentation.

Saturday’s activities include a memorial service for former faculty member Gilbert Burnett Jr., Vincent Astor ’10 Chair in Science and Head of the Science Department emeritus, who died Sept. 13. Also on tap are Chapel tours, class visits, student and faculty panel discussions, a picnic lunch on the front lawn, assorted home athletic contests, and a formal dinner at the Stephen P. Cabot and Archer Harman Ice Center. This festive dinner celebration is in honor of all the reunion classes.

A special alumni/ae chapel service takes place on Sunday morning, May 16.

Reunion class members will receive an invitation to Reunion Weekend. Please visit our web site at www.stgeorges.edu for Reunion Weekend registration, hotel information, a weekend schedule and a list of alumni/ae who have already registered.

ANDREA HANSEN

Alumni/ae invited back May 14-16

St. George’s School Reunion Weekend 2010 Home Athletic Contests Saturday, May 15, 2010 J.V. Baseball vs. St. Paul’s 2 p.m. (Elliott Field) Boys Varsity & J.V. Lacrosse vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (North Field/Cliff Field) Varsity Softball vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (The Softball Field, above North Field) Girls Varsity & J.V. Tennis vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (Upper & Lower Tennis Courts)

1970 • 40th

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St . G e o r g e ’ s S c h o o l M i s s i o n St a t e m e n t In 1896, the Rev. John Byron Diman, founder of St. George’s School, wrote in his “Purposes of the School” that “the specific objectives of St. George’s are to give its students the opportunity of developing to the fullest extent possible the particular gifts that are theirs and to encourage in them the desire to do so. Their immediate job after leaving school is to handle successfully the demands of college; later it is hoped that their lives will be ones of constructive service to the world and to God.” In the 21st century, we continue to teach young women and men the value of learning and achievement, service to others, and respect for the individual. We believe that these goals can best be accomplished by exposing students to a wide range of ideas and choices in the context of a rigorous curriculum and a supportive residential community.

Therefore, we welcome students and teachers of various talents and backgrounds, and we encourage their dedication to a multiplicity of pursuits —intellectual, spiritual, and physical—that will enable them to succeed in and contribute to a complex, changing world.

Upcoming Events St. George’s Day Celebration for Friends of the Chapel

Fri., April 23

Reunion Weekend

Fri., May 14 - Sun., May 16 Spring Dance Concert

Sat., May 29 Prize Day

Mon., May 31

Day Student Family Picnic

Tues., Sept. 7, 5:30 p.m.

Convocation chapel and classes begin

Mon., Sept. 13, 8 a.m.

Parents Weekend

Fri., Oct. 22 - Sat., Oct. 23

You’re invited: Regional Receptions St . G e o r g e ’ s Po l i c y o n Non- Disc rimi nati on St. George’s School admits male and female students of any religion, race, color, sexual orientation, and national or ethnic origin to all the programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, color, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs. In addition, the school welcomes visits from disabled applicants.

Reception in Seoul, Korea

April 2010

Contact Events coordinator Ann Weston at Ann_Weston@stgeorges.edu or 401.842.6731 for details

Princeton, N.J. At the home of Edward and Marie Matthews P’87

Thurs., April 15

Fairfield, Conn.

At the home of Virginia and Jim Dean ’72, P’11

Tues., April 27

Gladstone, N.J. At the home of Betsy Michel P’85, ’89

Tues., May 4

St. George’s School P.O. Box 1910 Newport, RI 02840-0190

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID St. George’s School

S T. G E OR G E ’S 2010

winter Bulletin

St. George’s School 2010 winter Bulletin

In this issue: Tenth headmaster of St. George’s, Charles A. Hamblet, dies at 68

BY SUZANNE

L. MCGRADY

Becoming Mary BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY Generous in many ways: Lewis N. Madeira ’39 Former Science Department Chair Gilbert Burnett Jr. to be memorialized Chapel talks: Life lessons from Pops BY POLLY MURRAY ’10 A place to call home BY SABRA WILSON ’10

Community Service: Spotlight on Camp Ramleh Reunion Weekend 2010 Class Notes

C OVER

STORY:

Remembering Headmaster Emeritus Charles A. Hamblet (1941-2010)

BY SUZANNE

L. MCGRADY