DURHAM ACADEMY
THE MAGAZINE OF DURHAM ACADEMY
R E C O R D • S U M M E R • 2 012
Heart and soul of the Upper School campus Students flock to the new Learning Commons for both study and socializing
FROM THE HEADMASTER’S DESK
unfamiliar to most of the audience, since it
is the elucidation of the unlikeness between past
centered on Englishman John Clarkson’s efforts
and present and his chief function is to act in this
in 1791 to relocate Black Loyalists living in Nova
way as the mediator between other generations
Scotia under the protection of the British Crown
and our own.”
Les Todd
to Sierra Leone to Christianize and civilize West
Jim also took the opportunity to give some
Africa. Hardly a simple task, as Jim states in his
direct advice to the students drawn from his
book Becoming African in America:
own experience. He made two very simple and
“It is less obvious what Blacks born in
powerful points that I hope resonated with the
America, who understood themselves to be
audience. Regarding college admission, he said,
participating in a mission to civilize savages,
“Don’t let your first choice become a fetish.”
might have made to the arrival of Naimbana,
His own “first choice” was made based upon his
the paramount king of the Koya Temne …
desperate desire to play basketball in college (Jim
independent schools. There are lots of events
Naimbana disembarked wearing a ‘sky-blue silk
is 5’ 8” on a good day). He discovered quickly
that showcase and celebrate the talents of our
jacket with silver lace, striped cotton trousers,
that he needed to be in a larger university where
students. I once heard someone say, “Every
ruffled shirt, green morocco slippers, a cocked
scholarly research was a central value. His original
kid who has a kazoo gets to be in a concert.”
hat with gold lace, a white cotton cap, for
error was entirely correctable, although he did
(I think I may have been the “someone.”) We
which a large old judge’s wig was afterwards
admit he deferred his graduate education because
have more kids playing on teams in the spring
substituted. He had a belt round his neck from
he was offered the job as DA’s basketball coach.
than in any other season, so athletic contests
which hung the figure of a lamb bearing a
occur daily. And since all that is left of the gym is
cross set with rays formed of paste.’ This was
consider to be conventional wisdom. He
the structural steel supporting the roof, staging
not the ignorant, naked native the Sierra Leone
said, “If someone tells you that you will learn
all these contests has presented more challenges
Company placed on its coat of arms … {I}t seems
more important lessons in college outside the
than normal.
unlikely that Naimbana embodied the ignorant
classroom than inside, they are lying to you.”
savage that most Nova Scotians had envisioned
He told the kids that most of them would have
traditional Upper School assembly, during which
civilizing. That the one son that he was sending to
only four years to study and think about how
students are introduced to the winner of the
be educated in England was balanced by another
various disciplines try to explain the human
Distinguished Alumni Award, was unaffected by
he had sent to France to learn Catholic ways, and
condition. Most have them will have 40 or 50
construction on campus. There was one change,
a third entrusted to local Muslims for an Islamic
years to learn life’s lessons. Missing a class is a
however, as the event was held in April this year
education underscores the cosmopolitanism
much bigger deal than missing a party.
rather than in October. The message delivered
of the slave-trading elite of the African coast —
was as strong as ever.
something the Nova Scotians might have found
to Jim Sidbury for his willingness to share these
disconcerting.”
lessons with us.
S
pring is a busy season in most
Since it is held in Kenan Auditorium, the
Professor Jim Sidbury ’76 was this year’s honoree, and there is an article in this edition
He went on to challenge what some
In my view, we owe a debt of gratitude
To understand his point entirely, you
of the Record describing what a worthy recipient
will probably have to read his book, but like
he is. As that article points out, Jim’s assembly
all history teachers, he was illustrating to his
address to the kids was, not surprisingly, a
audience that as Herbert Butterfield suggested
history lecture. The topic itself was probably
many years ago, “the chief aim of the historian
Ed Costello, Headmaster
DURHAM ACADEMY Record • Summer 2012 • Volume 39 • Number 2
The Magazine of Durham Academy
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DURHAM ACADEMY
Front Cover Emma Eason ’15, Khari Williams ’14 (standing), Chloe Lewis ’15, Christopher Smith-Burks ’15 and Meriel O’Connell ’15
3601 Ridge Road
enjoy the spacious computer lab in the new Upper School Learning Commons. The facility opened in February and has quickly become the heart
Durham, NC 27705-5599
and soul of the US campus, with spaces for quiet study, group work, research, catching up with friends and faculty and even a school store.
telephone: 919-493-7363
Photo by Megan Morr
email: communications@da.org website: www.da.org facebook.com/durhamacademy twitter.com/durhamacademy
Ed Costello, Headmaster Matt Taylor,
Director of Communications
Leslie Holdsworth,
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs
Kathy McPherson,
Associate Director of Communications
Tim McKenna,
Associate Director of Alumni Affairs
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Searching for DA’s next head of school Class of 2012: Signed, sealed and delivered Seniors discuss their time at DA New teachers reflect on their first year Middle School Director Jon Meredith describes a marathon first year Learning Commons transforms the Upper School Renovated, expanded gym expected to open this winter New iPad program coming to Middle School Technology director has a passion for music Here’s why DA still teaches cursive writing Scholarships for foreign study took DA senior around the world Hershey Award honors Glynis Hill-Chandler Trustees welcome new members From the Green Alumni Stories: Jim Sidbury ’76 • Dave Gould • Class Notes • Tom Beischer ’87 • John Crumbliss ’90 • Betsy Fox ’98 • Anthony Roth Costanzo ’00 • Allison Kirkland ’01 • Kendall Bradley ’07 • Regional Events • Weddings
by Durham Academy
Inside Back Cover Broadway will be calling Back Cover College choices for the Class of 2012 Mission Statement “The purpose of Durham Academy is to provide each student an education that will enable him or her to
Kathy McPherson, Record editor
live a moral, happy and productive life. The development of intellect is central to such a life and, thus, intellectual endeavor and growth are the
Linda Noble, designer
primary work of the school. The acquisition of knowledge; the development of skills, critical judgment and intellectual curiosity; and increased
Theo Davis Sons Inc., printer
understanding are the goals of the school’s academic program.”
Photos by Sheri-lyn Carrow
The Record is published bi-annually
P h o t o s b y L e s To d d
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SEARCHING FOR DA’S NEXT HEAD OF SCHOOL ED COSTELLO WILL LEAVE IN SUMMER 2013 AFTER 14 YEARS AS HEADMASTER
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he second-longest tenure of any Durham Academy headmaster will conclude at the end of the 2012-2013 school year when Ed Costello leaves after 14 years of service. Only Bess Pickard Boone, headmistress from 1938 to 1957, served longer.
Brookfield for 40 years.’ True enough, but he also refused the job of head when it was offered to him.
“A teacher of long tenure is generally an asset to a school; a head of school, not so much. I am not asserting that the To prepare for a smooth transition of leadership, head’s office should be outfitted with the board of trustees formed a search committee a revolving door. Rather, I am saying last fall to begin the work of selecting the next that change at the top, when it occurs head of school. Meanwhile, Costello shared in a planned fashion that is aligned the following thoughts about the change of with the goals of the school, brings leadership with an open letter to the Durham new perspective and energy and helps move the Academy community earlier this school year: school forward. The foregoing logic is exactly what caused me to enter into conversations with “When I first became a head of school, now more the Durham Academy Board of Trustees several than 20 years ago, a wise senior colleague sidled years ago about my career path. up to me and said, ‘Remember, you have a great job but you are, after all, only an itinerant.’ The “My choices were pretty clear to me. I could statement turns out to be true and is a healthy seek to attain a leadership position in another aspect of school leadership. You may be tempted school, or I could essentially take myself ‘off the to say, ‘But what about Mr. Chips? He stayed at market’ and go through another planning cycle
and capital campaign at DA. I am grateful to the board for agreeing to the latter course of action. It made sense to both parties to create a ‘no-cut’ contract covering several years and to establish a time frame for transition to a new head of school. “So the board and I have known for five years that we would form a search committee this past fall. At the risk of sounding self-
Timeline for Head of School Search SEPTEMBER 2011
OCTOBER 2011
NOVEMBER 2011
DECEMBER 2011
JANUARY 2012
FEBRUARY 2012
MARCH 2012
APRIL 2012
FALL 2011
JANUARY 2012
FEBRUARY 2012
MARCH 2012
Durham Academy Head of School Search Committee formed. Brendan Moylan ’85 is serving as chairman of the Search Committee, and is joined by board Chairman David Beischer ’85, trustees Liz Gustafson, Anne Lloyd ’82, Kip Frey, Jim Coleman, Laura Virkler ’91, Alumni Board President Jamie Spatola ’00, faculty members Tim Dahlgren and Karen Lovelace and school administrative liaison Leslie Holdsworth.
Search Committee selects Brigham Hill Consultancy, a firm with extensive experience conducting nationwide searches for independent schools, as its executive search firm. Linc Eldredge, firm president, and Jessica Cockrell, senior search consultant, lead DA’s search.
Brigham Hill representatives Linc Eldrege and Jessica Cockrell spend two days at Durham Academy meeting with school administrators, board members, faculty and staff, Parents Council, Alumni Board members and students to gather information that will inform the Head of School Search Profile.
Brigham Hill formally announces Durham Academy’s head of school search and releases the Durham Academy Head of School Search Profile. The profile can be viewed online at da.org/headsearch.
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DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
MAY 2012
JUNE 2012
JULY 2012
PRESENT: SUMMER 2012
AUGUST
Brigham Hill representatives identify and evaluate candidates to bring before the Search Committee.
congratulatory, I believe strongly that the school is fortunate to be able to choose new leadership according to an established plan. All too often, boards and heads get into wrangles that are resolved with ‘disruptive separations’ which are good for neither party. “At the risk of sounding selfcongratulatory, I believe strongly that the school is fortunate to be able to choose new leadership according to an established plan.” “By the time I leave in 2013, I will have spent more than a quarter of my working life as DA’s headmaster, a significant portion of my life’s work. The best possible outcome of my departure from DA is for the board to hire someone who makes me look bad. Some readers are likely to think this should not be difficult, and I would agree with them. But it is fair to say that the search committee’s work
ABOVE LEFT: Headmistress Bess Pickard Boone welcomed students to school each morning. ABOVE: Headmaster Ed Costello talked with students when he visited DA in spring 1999.
2012
SEPTEMBER 2012
OCTOBER 2012
SEPTEMBER 2012 Confidential list of semifinalists visits with Search Committee.
NOVEMBER 2012
DECEMBER 2012
OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 2012 Final candidates visit Durham Academy to meet with groups that will include representation from the entire DA community. Search Committee recommends a finalist to the board of trustees.
JANUARY 2013
FEBRUARY 2013
should be made easier because institutionally DA is on very solid ground. No crisis has happened to put the school in search mode. “Pride is not a good quality in a head of school, but I am proud of what happened at University School of Nashville after I left in 1999. I look forward to the day I am able to make a similar statement about Durham Academy. For now, I will continue to spend my time worrying about the things we can improve at the school, hopefully addressing some of them before my watch is over. “It is also likely I will spend some time considering how best to bridge the gap between my departure from DA and my eventual retirement. While working in the bag room at a golf course has some appeal, I may have to stay in the school business in some capacity. I will not, however, take a job that requires me to decide whether or not to call a snow day!”
MARCH 2013
APRIL 2013
MAY 2013
JUNE 2013
JULY 2013
DECEMBER 2012
JUNE 2013
JULY 2013
Board of trustees names Durham Academy’s new head of school.
Headmaster Ed Costello completes 14 years of service, the second-longest tenure of any head of school at Durham Academy.
Durham Academy’s new head of school assumes his or her responsibilities.
“A teacher of long tenure is generally an asset to a school; a head of school, not so much. I am not asserting that the head’s office should be outfitted with a revolving door. Rather, I am saying that change at the top, when it occurs in a planned fashion that is aligned with the goals of the school, brings new perspective and energy and helps move the school forward.”
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2012 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES
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Class of 2012: Signed, Sealed and Delivered By Kathy McPherson, Associate Director of Communications
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olden Thorp is chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a physicist, inventor, entrepreneur and author of 130 scholarly articles, but he called on Motown — the soul sound of the 1960s — and not academia for his commencement address to Durham Academy’s Class of 2012. Commencement exercises were held June 8 at Memorial Hall on the campus of UNC-CH. DA’s 91 graduates face not problems but opportunities, and “your talent, drive and social consciousness dwarf those of my generation,” said the 47-year-old Thorp. “All you need is an idea and an iPhone, and you probably have at least one of those. Where do you get the other?” That’s when he turned north to Detroit, the Motor City and birthplace of the Motown sound. “Motown was an innovative idea in the 1960s,” said Thorp. “Berry Gordy looked at an automobile assembly line and thought: ‘Why can’t we turn out records like they do cars?’ ” Gordy found backers to invest in his idea and a team to produce the records — quite an accomplishment for an African-American when much of the country was still racially segregated. Thorp said the average age of a Motown employee was 23, and the company had many female executives, something else that was unusual in the 1960s. Motown produced 100 hit singles, and its records became the soundtrack of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Thorp said he knew three things about DA’s Class of 2012: • “You are innovative.” He told them there would be no “ready-made job for you … it will likely be trial and error,” and urged the new graduates to remember that an entrepreneur is someone who learns what he or she needs to do to keep an idea alive. • “You are diverse.” Thorp said a group of people with different backgrounds can come up with better ideas than a homogenous group. continued
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The world needs many different types of people, so “be yourself and find the right light for you, whether it’s a spotlight or a lamp-lit desk.” He encouraged them to embrace differences and listen to different points of view. • “You have a chance to get a liberal arts education.” Thorp said a liberal arts education has defined America because it has created jobs, not just people to do them. “The average age of a Google employee is 34, which means they went to college in 1996. A curriculum didn’t exist to prepare them to work at Google … A liberal arts education teaches you to think critically, frame questions for fresh perspectives and communicate ideas to people.” He urged the graduates to stay plugged in, face challenges and be global citizens. “Motown needed Diana Ross, but it also needed the backup band. We need talent and the back-up band, too, to deal with problems in health care, schools and the environment … Never underestimate what people can do. Embrace new ideas and viewpoints and adapt to change that’s coming. “You really can change things yourself, and you will,” said Thorp. Quoting Stevie Wonder’s Motown hit, he said, “You have been ‘signed, sealed and delivered.’ Congratulations to the Class of 2012!”
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1. Seniors Lydia Nicholson, Blake Stafford, Mariah Young-
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Jones, Vinnie Corwin, Shan Nagar, Kellen Peter, Toni Pappas, Sarah Lerner, Jules Sawhill and Jared Anderson performed at commencement. 2. UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp gave the commencement address. 3. Sarah Molina was valedictorian. 4. Kameron Kooshesh was salutatorian. 5. Upper School Director Lee Hark welcomed guests. 6. David Beischer, chairman of the board of trustees, presents a diploma to Lindsay Walker. 7. Jakayla Hart, Alanna Heyer and Lucy Stokes get last-minute instructions. 8. Virginia Wertman and Sam Wollman proceed into graduation. 9. Student Council President Christopher Crawford passes the banner to incoming President Amanda Jowell ’13. 10. Alexander Coleman and Maggie Coates applaud their classmates. 11. Faculty members Jim Ebert, Steve Engebretsen, Lou Parry, Edith Keene, Jim Speir and Greg Murray proudly watch the procession. 12. Jared Anderson receives the Ginny Buckner Award from Lee Hark. 13., 14. Braxton Carr, Shad Brown, Ethan Grant, Annie Giarla and Kyle Fairchild-Carbonell react to the speeches. 15. UNC-CH’s Memorial Hall was the setting for graduation. Photos by Les Todd
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1. Jubilant seniors toss their mortarboard caps in the air after commencement. 2. Katie Baker shares a moment
with Belinda Davenport ’13. 3. Christopher Crawford and Michael Kontos have been friends since Lower School. 4. Kiran Jones poses for a photo with mom Suma, dad Evan and brother Dylan ’19. 5. Ishani Purohit enjoys a special time with mom Anuja, dad Debu and sister Anjali ’17. 6
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2012 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES
Scholarships & Recognition
• Matthew Novak — National Merit Finalist
• Five students will attend universities known for their
At least 38 members of the Class of 2012 have accepted scholarship offers or recognitions: • Banks Anderson — National Merit Commended • Jordan Baker — University of Pennsylvania Huntsman Program • Katie Baker — Lowes Grove Baptist Church Senior Scholarship • Braxton Carr — Merit Scholarship at Rhodes College • Josh Choper — Merit Scholarship at University of Chicago National Merit Commended • Shannon Cleaver — Athletic Scholarship at NC State University • Sarah Cox — Merit Scholarship at Oberlin College National Merit Commended • Maggie Coates — National Merit Commended • Christopher Crawford — National Achievement Finalist • Lucy Dempsey — National Merit Commended • Annie Giarla — Merit Scholarship at Earlham College • Ethan Grant — National Merit Commended • Jakayla Hart — National Achievement Finalist Zeta Phi Beta Senior Scholarship Durham Usher’s Union Scholarship American Association of Blacks in Energy, North Carolina Chapter Scholarship • Alanna Heyer — Merit Scholarship at University of Chicago National Merit Commended • Sammy Hobgood — Merit Scholarship at Furman University • Nylah Jimerson — Merit Scholarship at Agnes Scott College • In-Young Jo — National Merit Finalist • Kiran Jones — National Merit Commended • Fred Landis — Merit Scholarship at Boston University National Merit Commended • Mac Landis — Merit Scholarship at Case Western Reserve University National Merit Finalist • Chris Lee — Merit Scholarship at Hamilton College National Merit Finalist • Alan Lindsay — Merit Scholarship at College of Charleston • Gwendolyn Lloyd — Merit Scholarship at Kenyon College • Guilia Lopomo — National Merit Commended • Becky McMorrow — Merit Scholarship at Muhlenberg College • Sarah Molina — Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill National Merit Commended • Madison Mumma — North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Scholarship • Jordan Myers — National Merit Finalist • Shan Nagar — National Merit Commended
• Toni Pappas — Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church
technical programs (Virginia Tech, Rochester Institute of Technology, NC A&T, Stevens Institute). • One student will attend a fine arts college (Berklee College of Music). • Seventeen students will attend small liberal arts colleges (total enrollment under 3,000). • Eight students will attend a flagship public institution. • Twenty-eight students will enroll at their single-choice early decision college or university.
AHEPA; Senior Scholarship • Sara Pruitt — Merit Scholarship at Macalester College National Hispanic Award Recipient • Indira Puri — Presidential Scholar National Merit Scholarship National Merit Finalist • Jules Sawhill — Merit Scholarship at Oberlin College • Virginia Wertman — National Merit Commended • Sam Wollman — Merit Scholarship at Southern Methodist University • Alex Young — National Merit Finalist • Alida Zimmerman — Elon University Teaching Fellow Academic and merit scholarship or recognitions were also offered to the Class of 2012 at: American University, Bowdoin College, Brandeis University, Bryn Mawr College, Case Western Reserve University, Centre College, Colgate University, College of Charleston, Denison University, Dickinson College, Elon University, Goucher College, Hampton-Sydney College, Kenyon College, Lynchburg College, Miami University-Oxford, University of Miami, University of North Carolina-Asheville, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Oberlin College, Oglethorpe University, Pennsylvania State University-Wilkes-Barre, Southern Methodist University, St. John’s University-Queens Campus, Tulane University, Wingate University and College of Wooster.
Statistics on Class of 2012 • Ninety-one graduates submitted a total of 511
applications to colleges and universities. • Eighty-nine members of the Class of 2012 will matriculate to 59 different colleges and universities in 19 states and the United Kingdom. One student will take a gap year, and one student is undecided. • The Class of 2012 has average best SAT scores of 676 on critical reading, 672 on math and 684 on critical writing, for a combined best of 2033 on a 2400 scale (1348 on a 1600 scale). • Twenty-nine students (32%) will attend college in North Carolina (16 at public institutions, 13 at private); 36% stayed in NC in 2011. • Sixty students (67%) will attend college out-of-state: 48 in the South, 16 in the Mid-Atlantic, 13 in New England, eight in the Midwest, three in the West and one in the United Kingdom. • Six students were recruited to their respective institutions to play varsity sports (Division 1 and Division 3). • Ten students will enroll at Ivy League institutions. • Two students will attend a women’s college (Smith, Agnes Scott).
One or more members of the Class of 2012 will attend the following institutions: Agnes Scott College, Berklee College of Music, Boston University, Bowdoin College, Bucknell University, Case Western Reserve University, Chapman University (2), Clemson University (2), Colby College, College of Charleston, Columbia University, Connecticut College, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Davidson College, Duke University (8), Earlham College, Elon University (2), Emory University (2), Furman University (2), Hamilton College, Harvard University (3), Haverford College, High Point University, Kenyon College, Macalester College, Muhlenberg College, New York University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina State University (3), Northeastern University (2), Oberlin College (2), Princeton University (2), Radford University, Rhodes College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Skidmore College, Smith College, Southern Methodist University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Tufts University, Tulane University, University of Chicago (2), University of North Carolina-Asheville, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (6), University of North Carolina- Greensboro, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, University of Pennsylvania, University of South Carolina, University of Southern California, University of St. Andrews (Scotland), University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University, Villanova University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (2), Wake Forest University (4), Washington and Lee University (2), Williams College and Yale University.
Commencement Awards • •
Valedictorian – Sarah Molina Salutatorian – Kameron Kooshesh
• Ginny Buckner Memorial Award – Jared Anderson
George Watts Hill Community Service Award – Daniel Reed • Frank Hawkins Kenan Award – Shan Nagar • Elizabeth Adams Old Senior Award – Marissa Kuo • Scott Jameson Filston Memorial Award – Sarah Lerner • Headmaster’s Award – Sarah Molina and •
Kameron Kooshesh
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What would you tell a student who was considering attending DA? Seniors involved in various aspects of school life were asked to reflect on their Durham Academy experience. Here were some questions to get them thinking: What is the most valuable lesson you learned at DA? What is the strongest memory of DA you’ll take with you? How has DA stretched you or changed you? What teacher or experience has meant the most to you and why? What would you tell a student who was considering attending DA?
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f someone had told me before I came to
than any role I have played are the countless life
you some positive experiences and align you
Durham Academy five years ago that I would
lessons I was taught by [drama teacher] Mr.
with a successful future. Like every school, it has
take classes in experimental English literature for
Bohanek and my cast mates about courage,
its flaws. What sets Durham Academy apart
fun, perform an independent study in college-
responsibility and individuality. I am honored
from any other institution I have seen thus far
level molecular biology, present research at an
to call myself a member of the DA theater
is that Durham Academy is ready and willing to
international science conference or sing in a
family and I want to encourage everyone who is
acknowledge its faults and correct them to best
nationally-known a cappella group, I would never
interested to become involved in some way.”
suit the community. I could not ask for anything
have believed it. All those things (and more)
more.”
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are achievable at DA. In everything from postmodernism to economics, history seminars to
— Ellen Davenport
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forensic labs, derivatives to electrophoresis,
“
DA has expanded my world exponentially.
‘private high schools in Durham, N.C.’ I quickly
teacher] Mrs. Keene took the Kenan stage and
They say that, if you are lucky, one really good
traveled from the website to the campus. I was
told us all to ‘carpe diem,’ or ‘seize the day.’ I
teacher can alter your path in life; we are
dumbfounded by the amenities, the labs, the
was uninspired. It took several months, but on
whimsical art studio and the outdoor campus.
that very stage in Kenan, I finally realized her
Nothing prepared me for the culture shock or the
message. This realization came through my
rigorous curriculum. Regardless, I adapted. There
participation in West Side Story. I was intimidated
were teachers there to help, students constantly
and apprehensive at first, and my performance
fortunate to have many of those teachers.”
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— Kameron Kooshesh
found Durham Academy when I Googled
“
— Jakayla Hart
n the first day of senior year, [Latin
he best decision I made in my 14 years at
challenging me and something about the place
faltered. But I came to realize that life puts you
Durham Academy was auditioning for the fall
yanked the best out of me. People here want to
on a lot of stages, where everyone is watching you
play during my freshman year. Looking back after
see me succeed. Parents sincerely congratulate
and judging you; and instead of shying away from
participating in 10 Upper School productions,
me on my successes. Friends are genuinely excited
these moments, it behooves an individual to seize
I realize how much of an impact the DA theater
about my future. Teachers hold my hand while I
the day and make a lasting impression on those
department has had on my life. More important
struggle. DA will teach you a few lessons, afford
watching. Carpe diem.”
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DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
— Jules Sawhill
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n many ways, Durham Academy is the
Kyle FairchildCarbonell
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both academically and athletically. But, most
view in life from three dimensions to two.
framework of who I am today. It has encouraged
importantly, I have learned to ignore the singular
No longer able to lose myself in the Swiss
and motivated me to be curious, creative and
roles others expect me to play and instead to
mountains or gaze down into valleys far, far
dedicated in all aspects of my life. My time at
seek out opportunities for multifaceted growth.
below, I was simultaneously saddened and
Durham Academy is not defined by the grades
From being a captain of the varsity lacrosse team
thrilled to return to an utterly flat landscape.
I have received; rather, by the friendships
to pursuing an independent study in black-
Nonetheless, while I was nervous about
blossomed through participating in musicals
and-white photography, Durham Academy has
adjusting to an American high school, I was
and dance, the relationships developed with
played an integral role in my emerging as a leader
relieved to discover that DA provided the
teachers and the countless laughs and tears that
in the community.”
natural haven I yearned for. Having grown up
have molded me. Through being entrusted with responsibilities larger than I thought I could take on, I have learned a sense of independence and self-confidence. To me, the most impressive
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— Kyle Fairchild-Carbonell
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loving everything from the sky and the birds to the soil and the weeds, I have come to cherish
hen I moved to North Carolina nearly
DA’s outdoor campus. While practically every
seven years ago and began attending DA, I
high school exists within cement walls, it is as if
aspect of DA is the strength of the bonds I have
thought my experience at school would be
DA exists within the trees. As many will have seen,
formed with each of my teachers. Throughout my
strictly academic. ‘That’s all that schools are
I took up my post out on the sports track two
senior year at DA, for instance, I have enjoyed the
for, right?’ I would say. Little did I know that
years ago and have remained faithful ever since.
luxury of working alongside [dance teacher] Mrs.
not only have I since met incredibly intelligent,
DA allowed me to be who I am without having
McDonald in choreographing West Side Story,
curious and passionate people during my time
to worry about how I might look. Especially in
joking with [music teacher] Mr. Meyer about
here, I’ve also found the niche that I needed
my senior year, I was able to immerse myself in
anything and everything and going to [psychology to develop my own passions. DA somehow
my studies and remain the independent person I
teacher] Mrs. Frasher anytime I just needed
manages to embrace and support any student’s
naturally am. Day in and day out, teachers have
someone to talk to. Durham Academy truly has
dream, interest or idea. For instance, when I
answered my incessant questions with (most
been a home away from home.” — Katie Baker
first started playing [music] gigs, people from
of the time) patience and consideration. While
DA were the first to fill up the audience. DA has
not everyone has been as approachable as I
given me the encouragement and support to
would have hoped, that is life, and through such
follow my dreams in a way that I never imagined
experiences I have learned to accept and adapt.
possible.”
DA has a unique community that will remain
I
“
was a new student in fifth grade, and I felt
that Durham Academy was just another school. Now, seven years later and shortly before my graduation, I realize that Durham Academy
C
— Mariah Young-Jones
with me where ever I end up in life. With all honesty, I can admit that I will graduate from
has encouraged me to become anything but
“
urious as it may sound, moving back to
just another student. I have been challenged
America in my junior year was akin to shifting my
this campus having learned more than simply academics.”
— Simone Robinson
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
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I’ve been impressed by the collaboration between experience to work with dedicated colleagues who each The amazing What’s it likeresources to teach atand DA? facilities, and the way t year here [she taught at DA 1996-2003], I guess I here that is so impressive to me. Now that I’ve had in third grade grow and enter the “real world,” the t way that every student learns about themselves — just a school. It really is a community in which committed to bringing out the best in each other.I h and steady support I have received from my collea that is clearly shared by the staff, parents and espe inspiring to work with kids who are so motiva support within my own department as well as th have helped me acclimate to my first year at DA. I of parent support at our school. It has also been wo I’ve been impressed by the commitment and eng community. Each faculty member, student, pare in the educational process. I’ve been impressed by It has been a wonderful experience to work with ded and skills to our faculty.The amazing resources and Since it is not my first year here [she taught at D I missed when I wasn’t here that is so impressiv so many of the kids I taught in third grade grow me the most about DA is the way that every stu people. DA is much more than just a school. It students, faculty and parents — is committed to b impressed with the warm welcome and steady sup the general commitment to excellence that is clearly Starting a new job is exciting but stressful, and for a teacher that’s likely exciting and stressful x 18 (or however many students they face each morning). The Record asked several faculty members who came to Durham Academy in August to tell us about their first year. Here’s what they had to say. JOHN BACSIK second grade • What has impressed you in your first year at DA? I’ve been impressed by the collaboration between my grade-level partners. It has been a wonderful experience to work with dedicated colleagues who each bring individual talents and skills to our faculty. • What is your favorite part of the school day? I enjoy the opportunity to read poetry to my class at the end of each day. Shel Silverstein was a particular favorite of the class. • What has been your biggest challenge? Adjusting to teaching in a new state and a new school environment. • What would we be surprised to learn about you? I once caddied for Bobby Thompson (The Shot Heard Round the World) at a golf course in New Jersey. JEFF BURCH third grade • What has impressed you in your first year at DA? The amazing resources and facilities, and the way the faculty welcomed me. • What is your favorite part of the school day? My favorite part of the day is when my students are sharing their thinking about math, and they get really excited. • What has been your biggest challenge? The way the schedule jumps around. • What would we be surprised to learn about you? That I can twirl just about anything. Flag, rifle, sabre, baton, baseball bat, rake, broom, lacrosse stick, water bottle, yard stick, hula hoop … (I used to work with marching bands). AVERY GOLDSTEIN language arts, fifth grade • What has impressed you in your first year at DA? Since it is not my first year here [she taught at DA 1996-2003], I guess I am writing about what I missed when I wasn’t here that is so impressive to me. Now that I’ve had the chance to see how so many of the kids I taught in third grade grow and enter the “real world,” 10
the thing that impresses me the most about DA is the way that every student learns about themselves — as learners and as people. DA is much more than just a school. It really is a community in which each person — students, faculty and parents — is committed to bringing out the best in each other. • What is your favorite part of the school day? My favorite part of the school day is walking into the pod each morning and seeing all of the fifth-graders happy and excited to begin another day at school. I am certain that does not happen everywhere! • What has been your biggest challenge? My biggest challenge has been being as involved as I want to be as a parent [of a first-grader and third-grader]. • What would we be surprised to learn about you? If this teaching thing does not work out for me, I would love to try to break into the Bollywood scene. KELLY HOWES language arts, seventh and eighth grade • What has impressed you in your first year at DA? I have been most impressed with the warm welcome and steady support I have received from my colleagues, and by the general commitment to excellence that is clearly shared by the staff, parents and especially students at this school. It’s been especially inspiring to work
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
with kids who are so motivated to learn. • What is your favorite part of the school day? My favorite part of the day on which I am writing this is a perfect example: Having been immersed in the reading of To Kill a Mockingbird with my seventh-graders, I asked them to write in their journals about injustices they have noticed in the world around them. After writing, we all exchanged our thoughts about the unfairness we have witnessed, and what we can do to effect change. I treasure these moments when reading, writing, listening and talking all come together! • What has been your biggest challenge? The biggest challenge during my first year at Durham Academy has undoubtedly been getting used to the seven-day rotation schedule. Although I think it’s a great way to create a schedule that is as balanced as possible, overall, it’s been hard for me to remember the exact order in which things will occur on any given day. I have a lot of graphic aids around to keep me on track, and I am slowly learning what happens when!
my grade level partners. It has been a wonderful h bring individual talents and skills to our faculty. the faculty welcomed me. Since it is not my first am writing about what I missed when I wasn’t d the chance to see how so many of the kids I taught thing that impresses me the most about DA is the as learners and as people. DA is much more than h each person — students, faculty and parents — is have been most impressed with the warm welcome agues, and by the general commitment to excellence pecially students at this school. It’s been especially ated to learn.I have been impressed by the faculty hroughout my division. They are a real resource and I have been thoroughly impressed with the amount onderful to see how much our students love to read. gagement of each individual member of the DA ent, and administrator is truly treated as a partner the collaboration between my grade level partners. dicated colleagues who each bring individual talents d facilities, and the way the faculty welcomed me. DA 1996-2003], I guess I am writing about what ve to me. Now that I’ve had the chance to see how and enter the “real world,” the thing that impresses udent learns about themselves — as learners and as really is a community in which each person — bringing out the best in each other.I have been most upport I have received from my colleagues, and by y shared by the staff, parents and especially students CLOCKWISE FROM NEAR LEFT: • Heidi Kearnan • Jennifer Lawrence • Lauren Miller • Elizabeth Lyle • Kelly Howes • Avery Goldstein • John Bacsik • Jeff Burch PHOTOS BY KATHY MCPHERSON
• What would we be surprised to learn about you? You might be surprised to learn that I am considering learning how to play the banjo. Even I consider it a totally outlandish idea, but my husband is a passionate bluegrass guitar player, and he wants to form a family band. I might just do it.
HEIDI KEARNAN physical education, Middle School • What has impressed you in your first year at DA? I have been impressed by the faculty support within my own department as well as throughout my division. They are a real resource and have helped me acclimate to my first year at DA. • What is your favorite part of the school day? From day one, I have enjoyed the enthusiasm and
energy of my fifth-grade girls class. Always a pleasure to see them. • What has been your biggest challenge? My biggest challenge has been my 35-minute commute with the rotating schedule. I’m still trying to figure out traffic patterns so I can gauge when to leave my house in the morning. • What would we be surprised to learn about you? That I obsess over my relatively new dog. I watch her on video camera throughout the school day to see how she’s doing. I guess it’s that “guilty mom syndrome” because I have to leave her home all day. Additionally, I think my love for surfing would surprise many. Any chance I get, my kids and I head to the beach for some gnarly waves. JENNIFER LAWRENCE third grade • What has impressed you in your first year at DA? I have been thoroughly impressed with the amount of parent support at our school. It has also been wonderful to see how much our students love to read. • What is your favorite part of the school day? My favorite part of the school day is “morning meeting” since it gives everyone a time to greet one another and sets a positive tone for the day.
• What has been your biggest challenge? It has been difficult to get used to such a full schedule during the school day. • What would we be surprised to learn about you? I will be training a puppy over the summer!
ELIZABETH LYLE art, Preschool • What has impressed you in your first year at DA? Getting feedback from parents on a daily basis has been highly encouraging and truly meaningful. • What is your favorite part of the school day? Having conversations with tiny humans. They say the most amazing (and often hilarious) things! • What has been your biggest challenge? Adjusting to the fact that I don’t have to keep every scrap of paper or get every bit of juice out of a marker has been difficult. Old public school habits die hard. • What would we be surprised to learn about you? Two things: I was a transient kid because of my dad’s job with Ford and went to five different elementary schools in five years. I can lick my nose (obviously, the most impressive of the two).
LAUREN MILLER first grade • What has impressed you in your first year at DA? I’ve been impressed by the commitment and engagement of each individual member of the DA community. Each faculty member, student, parent and administrator is truly treated as a partner in the educational process. • What is your favorite part of the school day? I’ve relished each “morning meeting” I’ve had with my class this year. It is so grounding to start the day by reminding ourselves of the community we’ve created. • What has been your biggest challenge? Getting to know all the students, staff and families! Though DA may seem like a small school to those who have been here a while, it feels enormous to us newcomers. • What would we be surprised to learn about you? I’m (trying to) teach myself to play ukulele.
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
11
The Middle School Marathon MIDDLE SCHOOL DIRECTOR JON MEREDITH REFLECTS ON HIS FIRST YEAR AT DURHAM ACADEMY
F
B Y J O N M E R E D I T H, M I D D L E S C H O O L D I R E C TO R
or months now, people have been asking
I kept becoming confused about
me about my first year at Durham Academy.
the daily schedule. Turns out
My stock answer has been along the lines of
that was only the beginning of
“It’s going really well,” then with a chuckle,
that challenge.
“It’s been pretty busy, but so far, so good!” Now, I do pride myself on being honest, and
The start of the school
while that short statement is true, I’m ready to
year was pretty similar to
admit that I feel like I’ve been running a sort of
how things work in
yearlong marathon.
Hopkinton, Mass. Every-
I know what it is like to run an actual
body lines up, and, ready
marathon. Many years and about 20 pounds
or not, the mass surges
ago, I completed one. In 1999, I had the flexible
forward. There was a
schedule of a graduate student, I wanted to get
momentum to the year that
in better shape, and most importantly, I did not
carried itself along. Well-
yet have children, so I could still spend my time
planned trips went off in
however I wanted. I learned of a way to gain
early September. Thanks to months of
to introduce the Olweus anti-bullying program
entry to the Boston Marathon by raising money
preparation, the committee that worked
rolled out plans to incorporate the program into
for Massachusetts General Hospital (no way
to introduce the Olweus anti-bullying
the Middle School. I was really impressed with the
I would have qualified otherwise), so I got to
program rolled out plans to incorporate
bright, articulate students in my seventh-grade
work on that task.
the program into the Middle School.
history class. Things felt good.
As many runners will tell you, the hardest
I was really impressed with the bright,
In 1999, the marathon day temperature
part about a long race is training for it. Although
articulate students in my seventh-grade
was about 10 degrees above normal; the heat was
I may have strangled anyone who told me such
history class. Things felt good.
probably the most challenging and unanticipated aspect of the race. While there was no one
a thing around mile 22, there is some truth to that statement. My “training” for this year could
To supplement my training, I took cold
challenge in particular that flavored the first
encompass my whole career prior to DA, but
showers at the house DA allowed me to use
semester of this year, there was a scale to things
I will concentrate specifically on the summer
(I didn’t actually have a choice on that count)
that felt like a push. I felt uncomfortable walking
prior to my arrival.
and started to carbo-load at places like Toast,
around campus and not knowing every student’s
Q-Shack and Thai Café. Beats plain noodles and
name. The prospect of converting Taylor Hall into
protein powder shakes by a long shot.
a space that fulfills all the needs of the Academy
When you prepare for a marathon, you build up resistance with subsequently longer
Road campus was daunting. While reading
and harder runs. Starting last June, my “runs”
The start of the school year was pretty
were four, six-hour drives from South Georgia
similar to how things work in Hopkinton, Mass.
admissions folders was not a new task for me, it
to Durham. I would leave my family, pack my
Everybody lines up, and, ready or not, the mass
sure felt like there were a LOT of people who wanted
car with the barest of necessities and spend
surges forward. There was a momentum to the
to send their children to DA. Although I had worked
each of those weeks trying to figure out just how
year that carried itself along. Well-planned trips
in environments similar to Durham Academy in
this place worked. I met with many people and
went off in early September. Thanks to months
the past, navigating a new, complex place this size
started to get a sense of aspects of life here, but
of preparation, the committee that worked
proved to be a challenging adjustment.
12
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
FAR LEFT: Middle School Director Jon Meredith completed the Boston Marathon “many years and about 20 pounds ago.” LEFT: Meredith said his first year as DA Middle School Director felt “like I’ve been running a sort of yearlong marathon.”
with which the Middle
technology, but I was by no means a cutting-
School faculty approached
edge boundary-pusher. Committing the Middle
every day made the year
School to a one-to-one iPad program required
so much easier for me to
consideration of significant human, technological
navigate.
and financial factors. After lots of thought by many people, we made the decision to go ahead
Having crossed the figurative finish line at
Matt Taylor
Pardon the cliché, but crossing a marathon
DA, I can say that I reached
finish line provides a feeling that is difficult to
that goal. I am really
describe. I was elated and proud of what I had
pleased the survey we took
done, but mostly, I was bone tired. We will not
this spring showed that
mention my time, but my goal was to finish, and
our implementation of
I did. My goal for my first year at DA was more
the Olweus approach was
ambitious — I wanted to maintain a division at
successful in helping
an elite school at its already-established high
us prevent bullying by
level of function and try to finish the year leaving
emphasizing a culture of
it better.
respect. The fine arts
Thankfully, this year was quite similar to
and add those powerful tools to our program.
Having crossed the figurative finish line
department made great
at DA, I can say that I reached that goal. I am
progress toward planning
really pleased the survey we took this spring
an improved Taylor Hall.
showed that our implementation of the Olweus
Most importantly, I believe
approach was successful in helping us prevent
students on this campus
bullying by emphasizing a culture of respect.
finished the year having learned and
The fine arts department made great progress
the Boston Marathon because of the amazing
grown in ways that make them well-
toward planning an improved Taylor Hall.
support that makes the challenge so much easier.
prepared for next year. I do feel good
Most importantly, I believe students on this
Although I wished the miles had passed more
about my first year at DA.
campus finished the year having learned and
quickly in Boston, the tremendous cheers of the
grown in ways that make them well-prepared
crowd, the bands that lined the race course, and
Any comparison to the Boston Marathon
especially the tunnel of howling Wellesley College
must include a nod to the famous “Heartbreak
undergrads near mile 12 gave me stores of energy
Hill” found at mile 17. Most of what people
I did not know I had. The support I received this
say about that stretch of road is true — it is
my introductory year at DA, I will be able to say,
year buoyed me in similar fashion. I will always
a long climb that happens at a particularly
without hesitation, that it was a great experience,
be grateful to the many colleagues and parents
psychologically challenging point in the race.
just like that race in Boston. It was a long, hard
who took the time this year to share advice and
If I had to pick something similar in this year,
run, but, unlike my one-off experience with
pass along an encouraging word. Most of all, the
it would have to be the decision to implement
actual marathoning, I hope that this will only be
professionalism and extraordinary competence
iPads. I came to this job comfortable with
the first of many years at Durham Academy.
for next year. I do feel good about my first year at DA. So, the next time someone asks me about
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
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Learning commons transforms US campus BY LEE HARK, UPPER SCHOOL DIRECTOR
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DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
Kathy McPherson
Kathy McPherson Kathy McPherson
Megan Morr
Kathy McPherson
here are very few events that galvanize a CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: The new commons has quickly become school like the opening of a new building, and the heart of the Upper School campus. • The school store sells DA apparel, our new Upper School Learning Commons is school supplies and delicious food. • Thomas Phu consults with two of his no exception. While our students and faculty history students. • Students make good use of several group study rooms. don’t ever seem to be short of energy for long, • The commons’ computer lab was designed to facilitate collaborative work. this space has contributed to a renewed sense of energy on the Upper School campus that is hard to miss. The period between closing the old administration building and library and opening the new space was challenging in unanticipated ways. Logistically everyone handled the transition quite well; the psychological toll, however, was tough — at least for me. The Upper School office relocated to the brick building across the parking lot from the gym for nine months, and I suffered from the infrequent contact with students and faculty. Though I’m sure our longsuffering seniors (who feared they wouldn’t get to use the building at all) would disagree with this, it seemed like the building just appeared one day right out of the ground. In an instant, we were given a new library, computer lab, bookstore, student center, faculty workspace, front door. But the Learning Commons is more than just a combination of these important elements. It has enriched our community in ways that are hard to describe but are felt nonetheless. The Learning Commons was many years in the making. The original idea was generated in community conversations that took place in the late 1990s. Many design elements rose and fell during the ensuing years, but several crucial components remained. First, we knew the Upper School campus desperately needed a central meeting and working space for students and faculty. We also recognized that we needed a library that was more than just warm and dry — it needed to reflect changing trends Something that amazed me about the opening of our Learning in library design, which included being both technologically rich and Commons was how quickly — almost from the minute we unlocked aesthetically pleasing. We also knew we wanted the building’s design to the doors — the students behaved as if it had always been there. The facilitate student-faculty interaction. building was designed around the core concept of a “commons” — a Another thing we knew was that we could no longer behave as if our common space for students and faculty to gather together. Like teenagers library was intended to be archival. It would no longer be a storehouse for everywhere, DA students have always been prone to congregating together. stacks of books. In fact, most of our physical collection rarely circulated. What has changed with this building is that now they don’t have to be Based on space limitations and changing use patterns in all libraries, we quite as creative about it. Our outdoor campus is bucolic and lovely for needed to pare down our collection to a more manageable size and to most of the year, but when it’s cold or rainy, it doesn’t work quite as well as ramp up our digital and technological resources. we’d like. Finally, we wanted our new space to reflect our recent graduates’ The design of this building facilitates and encourages interaction. experiences. To view design in action, we visited libraries at Duke, UNC, A hallmark of Durham Academy has always been close faculty-student N.C. State and other colleges and universities. To no surprise to anyone relationships. The Learning Commons hasn’t changed that element as who has been on a college campus recently, we confirmed that the ground much as pushed it front and center. Conversations and extra help that used floors of most college libraries resemble the student centers of old: coffee to take place solely in classrooms now also happen in front of peers and shops, spaces that are wireless and tech-friendly — with FOOD! — and colleagues. It has enriched those interactions, and it enables all students to flexible work stations for individuals and groups. envision themselves developing those same relationships. The same is true
Megan Morr Megan Morr
Kathy McPherson
Kathy McPherson Megan Morr
for faculty interaction. Personally, it is difficult for me to remember how disjointed my daily school life was before we had the Learning Commons. Another interesting and unanticipated student reaction is that they’ve continued to stay indoors as the weather has warmed despite a redesigned and inviting patio area outside the building. That may have something to do with the fact that the patio umbrellas haven’t arrived yet, but I think the students also really just like being in the space. “This building is a great concept,” senior Abhiyant Singh told me. “The school didn’t have a designated spot to meet people, study or eat food, and it simultaneously serves all those purposes. I feel like you see a lot more people, more often during the day, too.” “I really love how the Learning Commons has become a space where any student of any grade can be found,” said junior Amanda Kim. “The new space not only fosters education and learning (with the added computer access and the newly located library), but it also encourages different grade levels to mix socially and strengthen/form new friendships.” For their part, members of the faculty seem as enthusiastic about the building as the students are. They, too, sense a different energy this
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Free-standing white boards allow students to work together solving problems. • The commons’ open area is bustling between classes but a quiet place for study during a free period. • Spacious work stations and large computer screens easily accommodate group work. • Café tables are a popular place to catch up with friends. • Study tables are scattered among the stacks in the library area of the learning commons.
semester, and I’m convinced it’s a direct reaction to this building. History teacher Mike Spatola put it this way: “The Learning Commons is a fabulous addition to the DA campus. It should also be known as the student union, because it has become the ‘hub’ of campus life, much like you’d find on a college campus. During the day it is like a ‘force field;’ the energy that emanates from the building is contagious.” Kate Cadwallader, manager of the school store and our resident stationmaster, compared it to Grand Central Station; it’s “noisy ... happy ... the hub!” Another interesting aspect of bringing the new space on line is that has been a bit of a social experiment. It’s been gratifying to see that the students have been given a very nice space, and they’ve done an excellent job taking care of it. We intentionally did not create a set of rules to govern the space beyond our general expectations for students and their behavior. I hope they feel trusted. “I like how we’ve been very patient about allowing the students to figure out how they want to use the space,” said math teacher Amy Knowles. “It has gone through several transitions since opening, and it will continue to evolve. We’ve been a lot more flexible with guidelines, probably because we are curious to see what the students do with it. There have been issues (noise, food, mess, productivity), but I like how we are stepping back to give the students a chance to adjust and make good choices.” We continue to tweak how we use the space (and how often we dump the recycling — stinky!), but the bumps in the road have been surprisingly few and far between. I am so grateful to the people who have provided financial support for the Learning Commons. Their investment in this school means a lot to all of us. When we were pitching this idea to interested parties, I often said that a school as good as ours deserves buildings that are equally as good. That sounds nice, and I still think it’s true, but I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that providing the buildings this community deserves requires an extraordinary commitment of time, energy and resources. They have invested in a space that will serve the DA community for years to come, and for that the current and future generations of students and faculty owe a debt of gratitude. DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
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Renovated and expanded gym is second phase of US renovations BY LESLIE HOLDSWORTH, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
magine a school with a gym that still used 40-year-old wooden backboards on its basketball goals, that was not air-conditioned, had no public restrooms and used a tucked-away plumbing closet as the training room for its student athletes. Imagine that this school kept the bulk of its athletic memorabilia and trophies in boxes because of lack of display space, and sold concessions from an eight-foot table under the batting cage. Imagine this school canceling a dance because the floor of the mezzanine was beginning to bounce and buckle under the weight of the students. It is hard to believe it, but this has been Durham Academy, with a woefully out-of-date Upper School gymnasium. But, finally, change is coming. DA’s Board of Trustees made a historic decision in February: to move forward with the renovation and expansion of the Upper School gymnasium. Even though all of the funding has not yet been secured, the trustees were encouraged by the enthusiastic response to date to fundraising. With that momentum, the board was eager to move forward with the second phase of plans that address much-needed upgrades at the Upper School. The gym was built in 1974, when DA opened its Upper School to 150 students. The Upper School has more than doubled in size since then, but the gym has not been expanded or updated. The gym, which is the building most often seen by visitors to campus, had become embarrassingly inadequate. It was unwelcoming, with no lobby and two cramped locker rooms that were shared by home and visiting teams. The training room and weight room were small and dingy. And, because the gym was not air-conditioned and had no public restrooms, DA was not allowed to host conference tournaments. Preparation and gym demolition began in early March. Students and faculty members returned from spring break to discover that the temporary (in use since the late 1980s!) building housing the weight room and Athletic Director Steve Engebretsen’s office had been leveled. Construction crews continued to prepare for the renovation by removing the bleachers, the gym floor and the canopy above the walkway. Only the structural steel that remains now will be a part of the new gym. The Upper School gym has been closed since spring break, and the project is expected to take less than a year to complete. The renovated and expanded facility should be open by late winter, barring any unexpected delays. The project includes plans for a fully renovated gym featuring air conditioning and a new playing floor, bleachers, basketball goals and scoreboards. The old mezzanine will be replace by a spacious, two-story trophy gallery, lobbies on the north and south side of the building, access to public restrooms and a concessions area. A gym expansion will add 8,000 square feet for a new fitness center, home and visiting locker rooms, a workout room, storage, offices and a conference room. The gym project is the second phase of renovations at the Upper School and is supported by The Evergreen Campaign. As part of the first phase of renovations, a new Learning Commons opened a month ahead of schedule in February. By moving immediately from the Learning Commons project to the gym project, the school has saved approximately $100,000 in not having to re-stage for construction at a later date. The Evergreen Campaign is providing the funds for both the gym project and the new Learning Commons. To date the campaign has raised $6.5 million, or 73 percent of its $9 million goal. The campaign will run through June 2013, and all members of the DA community are asked to pledge support. For more information on the campaign and the projects, visit www.da.org/future. 16
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
Kathy McPherson
I
Kathy McPherson
LEFT TO RIGHT: Barring unexpected delays, the renovated and expanded gym will be open by late winter. The gym addition will be located on the site of the former weight room, and will include a large fitness center, workout space, locker facilities, training room, offices and meeting space. BELOW: The new floor plan shows a fully renovated gym, featuring lobbies and a trophy gallery, and an expansion that will add 8,000 square feet for locker rooms, a fitness room, a training room and offices.
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
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Middle School iPad program takes effect in August
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By Kathy McPherson, Associate Director of Communications
hose bulging backpacks full of textbooks and notebooks … forget about them. Those mad dashes to a cramped locker to find the books and supplies for the next class … forget about them. Those times that homework essentials get left at school or completed homework gets left at home … forget about them, too. It’s a new day. When Durham Academy welcomes Middle School students for the 20122013 school year, it will be placing an iPad in the hands of each student. The tablet is theirs to use at school and at home, and the expectation is that this latest technology will have a huge impact on life and learning for Middle School students and teachers. “I always think that technology is most useful when it is directed at solving a specific problem, or at making certain routine tasks easier and more efficient,” said Trevor Hoyt, DA’s director of technology. “We think the iPad will not only allow students to cut down on the number of notebooks and textbooks they have to carry back and forth, but also will provide access to a digital repository of their class materials that is stored in the cloud (no more lost notes or books!)” The idea of each student having a digital device has been considered in the past, and last year the Middle School conducted a pilot project to determine the impact when sixthgrade language arts students had consistent use of either an iPad or a laptop. The control group — students in fifth, seventh and eighth grades — continued to have access to computer labs, desktops in classrooms, iTouch carts and laptop carts. The winner was the iPad, and plans were made to issue an iPad to every Middle School student in August 2012. “The most exciting part of the iPad program will be the dramatic impact this device could have on learning, teaching and creating in the Middle School classroom,” said Julie Williams, sixth-grade language arts teacher. “The sheer number of educational apps available in all areas of the curriculum is exciting. I also anticipate a great boost in the overall organizational life of the Middle School student. It is exciting to think that their notes, calendars, 18
assignments and a few texts will all reside in one small device instead of a locker and rolling book bag!” Why did the Middle School decide to issue an iPad to each student rather than some other digital device? “We did extensive comparisons between laptop devices and the iPad, and the iPad has many advantages,” said Hoyt. “The iPad battery can go up to 10 hours on a single charge, which is about twice what most laptops are capable of. In addition, the Retina display on the new iPad is much easier on the eyes than any other laptop or tablet screen. Finally, there is simply less that can go wrong with an iPad, both in terms of the hardware (no dead hard drives, broken keys or bad track pads) and the software (users cannot inadvertently install malware or make changes to the operating system).” Williams observed other advantages during the pilot project using iPads or laptops in language arts classes. “The laptop seemed to be an instant physical barrier between teacher and student, and student-to-student communication. The iPad could lay flat on the desktop and could be closed and reopened with ease.” And then there was the issue of bulk. Williams said students didn’t want to carry their laptops home, but they always took their iPads home. She was also impressed by the variety of educational resources available on the smaller device: “The iPad has millions of resources; laptops are very limited.” “The iPad’s instant on/off, small size, portability, battery life and touch screen — it’s really hard to type math problems — are all hardware advantages,” said math teacher Gib Fitzpatrick. “And the exponential proliferation of apps available for the iPad means that if there’s a need for a particular app,
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“We think the iPad will not only allow but also will provide access to a digital it’s probably just around the corner. I wouldn’t be surprised if our students ended up authoring some eventually!” Evernote is an app that gets raves from Hoyt, Williams, Fitzpatrick, MS Director Jon Meredith and MS technology teacher Karl Schaefer, members of the committee that investigated the use of digital devices. “I think every parent should know about Evernote,” said Hoyt. “It really goes beyond note-taking and allows one to consolidate and organize all sorts of digital scraps of information in one place. Everything you do is automatically synced up to Evernote’s servers and is accessible from a web browser, a PC or Mac, an iPad or a smartphone. In addition, Evernote premium accounts provide features such as the ability to digitally share notes with other users.” “Evernote is a powerful and simple organizational app that I foresee us using in a number of ways,” said Meredith.
students to cut down on the number of notebooks and textbooks they have to carry back and forth, repository of their class materials that is stored in the cloud (no more lost notes or books!)” “Homework assignments could be completed here, easily categorized and not be ‘left in the printer,’ class notes can be stored here ... and it is a collaborative tool, as well. It is cloud-based, and changes on one device instantly show up on any other device you own. It is really easy to use!” So how will the iPad be used in the classroom? Williams said that during last year’s iPad pilot project, sixth-graders read class novels as well as literature from sources such as Amazon, iBook store and Project Gutenberg. “We also used Evernote to keep handouts and class notes organized. Students blogged, practiced grammar, used GoSkyWatch to learn about our solar system (as an extension of our novel Cosmic), created presentations, wrote down assignments, accessed Moodle, sent email, wrote papers, created comics, drew pictures, took pictures, created VoiceThreads and so much more!”
Meredith, who teaches history, plans to base at least one creative/research-based project around iPad use. “I will set up some classes in which students will have to do ‘miniresearch’ projects based on historical problem solving, and iPads will be a valuable tool when we write our major research paper. I may also experiment with structuring classes using NearPod, an app that allows me to control my students’ iPads and walk them through a presentation slide-by-slide, including polls and quizzes.” In math class, Fitzpatrick thinks the most common use will be taking a photo of assigned homework in the textbook, saving students from lugging the actual book to and from school. “Until a strong enough algebra e-book becomes available, that can be a backpackreducing strategy,” he said. “Some students may also opt to do their homework on their iPads instead of paper by using a stylus or their fingers. I’m actually looking forward to seeing students help lead the way when it comes to discovering creative uses of the iPad in my class, like converting whiteboard notes into shared .pdfs, recording instructional videos, etc.” Schaefer said he will be restructuring the Digital Learning 6 class next year “to harness the power of the iPad with respect to content creation and portfolio work. I will also use desktop computers where needed to augment skills and projects. I am excited to introduce mind mapping or concept mapping with our new app and Web-based service Mindmeister.” Hoyt said he and music teacher Mike Meyer are interested in exploring the use of iPads with the jazz-rock ensemble class they teach at the Upper School. “There is an app called forScore that turns your iPad into a sheet music notebook,” said Hoyt. “You can even add annotations with your finger or a stylus, and you can turn pages with your feet using a Bluetooth pedal.” It is truly a new day, and Schaefer said, “I think the iPad represents the future of learning devices which will allow Durham Academy to be more innovative in our learning and teaching.”
NOW THAT YOU OR YOUR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT HAS AN IPAD, HOW DO YOU LEARN ABOUT THE MANY WAYS TO USE IT? • Trevor Hoyt, Durham Academy director of technology: “I would recommend that parents start with our iPad FAQ (http://www.da.org/ipadfaq). This has information about our program, and will be updated frequently. In addition, we will provide links on this page to other sites that parents may find helpful.” • Karl Schaefer, chair of DA’s computer department and Middle School technology teacher: “We will be using a private DA Google site for students called iPad Passport (https://sites.google. com/a/students.da.org/ipadmspassport/) where students will learn care and use of the iPad, as well as managing their digital life with resources from Common Sense Media. All families should know about and use Common Sense Media. http:// www.commonsensemedia.org/ • Julie Williams, sixth-grade language arts teacher: “The first place I would send parents is to the FAQ that Durham Academy has created for our community. The second place would be recommended resources such as Common Sense Media. Other resources will include teachers, directors and yes, even their own children or peers! They are a wealth of information!” • Gib Fitzpatrick, Middle School math teacher: “Atomic Learning (accessed with a DA username and password through Moodle) has almost 200 video tutorials about using an iPad. You can also sign up for free workshops at Apple Stores. http:// www.apple.com/retail/workshops/.”
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LEFT: Trevor Hoyt is equally comfortable with music and technology. He plays guitar, French horn, mandolin and banjo, and is a former doctoral student in musicology.
school, as well as the computer skills he developed from working on, among other things, music composition. His responsibilities at the publishing company included networking together the organization’s accounting, ordering and page layout software. Meanwhile, he also spent time helping his wife, former Middle School German teacher Yvonne Restani, navigate the challenges of DURHAM ACADEMY’S DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY ENGAGES HIS PASSIONS working with DA’s fledgling campus FOR COMPUTERS AND MUSIC network in the late ’90s. At the time, the school had one computer support person who was responsible BY MATT TAYLOR, for all technology. Word got around DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS about Hoyt’s expertise, and he joined the Durham Academy community in 1998 revor Hoyt encountered his first musical as a network manager. love in the third grade. The flutophone, a “To some degree, I think I probably wasn’t plastic wind instrument, so intrigued him that cut out to be a scholar,” Hoyt said. “I found that he learned every song in his music book. Thus the life of doing scholarly research and writing was born a musical passion that years later books and articles probably wasn’t something I would lead him to earn a master’s degree in was enjoying. I really missed the practical part of music from the Shepherd School of Music at performing music. When you’re so locked in on Rice University and to study for a doctorate in being a music scholar, you miss the performance musicology at the University of North Carolinapart.” Chapel Hill. Hoyt became director of computer support These days, Hoyt brings the same passion in 2002. He assumed his duties as the school’s he had for the flutophone to performing on first director of technology this July. In this role, a collection of instruments that includes the he will head up DA’s four-person technology guitar, French horn, mandolin and banjo. He department and manage a network that has taught himself to play the latter two instruments grown from approximately 200 devices in the in order to be more versatile for his work with late ’90s to more than 1,000 devices currently, In The Pocket, Durham Academy’s jazz-rock including computers, network switches, servers, ensemble. WiFi access and phone systems. One of Hoyt’s So how does a former doctoral student immediate tasks is helping prepare the Middle in musicology — one who listens to gypsy jazz School to implement a one-to-one iPad program and plays jazz standards, who was writing a that will have all students and faculty on that dissertation about Beethoven’s string quartets — end up heading the technology department at campus utilizing school-owned tablets as part of classroom instruction. Durham Academy? His story, like the music he Versatility is a key component of Hoyt’s new enjoys, is heavy on improvisation. job, as it calls for a network specialist with the Hoyt took a position as a production ability to work on the back end of servers who manager at a Chapel Hill publishing company also understands the importance of technology to earn money while he worked on his integration and can provide leadership in that dissertation. The position called upon the area. He describes his responsibilities in plain writing and editing skills he learned in graduate Matt Taylor
s t rik e up t he BANDWIDTH
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terms: “If it’s technology, somebody’s going to ask me about it, and I’d better have an answer.” Beyond the technology, Durham Academy provides Hoyt with an outlet for his considerable music talents through his work with In The Pocket. Hoyt started playing with In The Pocket in 2003 when Herb Lamb, an Upper School physics teacher and former club musician, founded the group. It began as an extracurricular activity until Headmaster Ed Costello suggested it become a class. In The Pocket places students alongside experienced adult musicians who guide them through the process of selecting repertoire, rehearsal and production. The group specializes in many genres of 20th-century popular music including jazz and swing, rock and roll, R&B, funk, soul, disco, musical theater, pop, bluegrass and country. Versatility is a key component of Hoyt’s new job, as it calls for a network specialist with the ability to work on the back end of servers who also understands the importance of technology integration and can provide leadership in that area. He describes his responsibilities in plain terms: “If it’s technology, somebody’s going to ask me about it, and I’d better have an answer.”
“I can only imagine what it would be like if there was a class for playing contemporary music when I was in high school,” said Hoyt, who attended the Berkeley School in Tampa, Fla., before graduating from the American School of London. “No one has that. It’s one of the things that makes In The Pocket unique to Durham Academy.” This past spring, Upper School history teacher Dave Gould visited Hoyt in his office. Gould commented, “You must have a great job to be able to have all these toys around you during the day and then you get to go play guitar with the kids.” Hoyt agreed. “I’m really lucky to be able to do two different things that I love in one job,” he said.
Kathy McPherson
IS IT RIGHT TO LEARN TO WRITE?
O
WHY DURHAM ACADEMY STILL TEACHES CURSIVE B Y C A RO LY N RO N CO, LO W E R S C H O O L D IR E C TO R
ne of the highlights for second-grade students at Durham Academy is earning a “Cursive Writing License.” Earning a Cursive License is hard work, and if you have yours, it is something to be proud of! Receiving a Cursive License at Durham Academy means that you have learned to read and write all of the lower-case English letters in cursive. In the light of recent North Carolina news that teachers are no longer required to teach cursive writing, we are compelled to ask ourselves if the practice of teaching cursive writing is still relevant or a convention of the past. As early childhood educators at Durham Academy, we have decided to continue to teach cursive writing relying on the following premises:
at the University of Washington, found in a recent study that children in “grades two, four and six wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard.” (Wall Street Journal, October 2010) Further, adult learners of a foreign language improved retention when writing the letters of the new language by hand. Writing by hand also promotes fine motor skill development.
• How we teach cursive writing must change with the times. In my eight years at Durham Academy, we have certainly changed how we teach handwriting. We spend less time teaching cursive so that we can spend more time teaching keyboarding — a skill that increases in • Knowing how to read and write cursive is civil and scholarly. importance as iPads, laptops and personal learning devices become a part Signatures are primarily written in cursive, as are many historical of our students’ show-what-you-know repertoire. We have also changed our documents and primary historical sources. Several research studies indicate handwriting curriculum. We have moved from a more traditional approach that neat penmanship can improve a grade on a written assignment or to a curriculum entitled “Handwriting Without Tears.” This curriculum was a score on the written portion of a college entrance exam. Further, many written by an occupational therapist and is designed with distinct teaching parents and grandparents write in cursive. In a recent column in The News strategies that appeal to students and give students more latitude with their & Observer, A.C. Snow writes that many grandchildren are asking their own writing style. grandparents not to write notes to them in cursive because the grandchildren At this time and place, learning to read and write cursive is still say they cannot read them. appropriate and is a rite of passage for Durham Academy second-graders as they mature into scholarly students and learners. But who knows, maybe • Writing in cursive supports recent research on brain development. one day we will simply type our thoughts instead of write them … or we will Brain research studies suggest that practicing handwriting, especially only speak them instead of type them … or in true futuristic fashion, we will cursive, activates different parts of the brain that can improve language only need to think them. Until then, our students will receive instruction on fluency and learning. Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology how to read and write our English language in manuscript and cursive. DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
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A year in Germany, seven weeks in China, two weeks in Korea
Scholarships for foreign study took DA senior around the world BY JORDAN BAKER ’12
ABOVE: My friends and I standing in front of our school in Meerbusch, Germany. FAR RIGHT: I am standing at the DMZ between North and South Korea. The soldiers behind me in camouflage are South Korean troops and those in solid gray shirts and dark pants are North Korean. The gray building on the opposite side of the road is officially on North Korean territory. RIGHT: My host sister Gloria and me in a park in Beijing, China.
I
t seems that every bookstore has at least one aisle dedicated to books that claim an ability to help you “Master a Foreign Language in 14 Days.” Naturally, these claims are wildly exaggerated, but they raise an interesting point since there is clearly a large audience clamoring to buy these products. What motivates people to want to learn a language? From my experience, there are many joys in language learning. At a basic level, people want to be able to communicate with others. Ultimately, however, people want to achieve more than just communication; they want to establish connections with a country or culture and, ideally, achieve empathy with others who may have lives and perspectives quite different from their own. As globalization continues to increase, this interest in other people and places has accelerated; being in tune with the global world has become a more popular and, in some ways, essential pursuit. In business, companies manufacture and source products from around 22
the world and sell them in a global marketplace. Culture also travels around the world in the form of tourism, music, literature, film and other arts. Many problems faced by governments have an international scope; issues such as war, disease, poverty, energy and the environment can only be solved if countries work together. One of the best opportunities to obtain international experience is through student exchange programs. As an Upper School student, I have had the opportunity to participate in three different exchange programs. Although these exchange programs had many characteristics in common, they were vastly different in some ways. I would recommend the exchange experience — especially as a student in high school — because there is truly no comparable way to gain a better understanding and appreciation not only of a country’s language and culture, but also of the interconnected nature of the global world and the role that different countries and people play on the international stage. The differences
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Learning about and celebrating the diversity of the world is not limited to exchange programs or extracurricular activities; knowledge and understanding of the world is a lifelong pursuit that can occur any place and any time. It is possible to “travel” without even leaving the Triangle. Events such as the International Festival in Raleigh (held annually in the fall); grocery stores such as Compare (Hispanic) and Li Ming’s Global Mart (Asian); and other cultural opportunities such as the Bollywood films shown at the Galaxy theater in Cary, performing arts groups at our local universities and restaurants in downtown Durham are examples of cultural immersion that can happen just a few miles away. There are also opportunities to learn languages outside the classroom without having to spend time abroad. Online and local communities provide great support networks for self-study as well as environments to test your knowledge. Knowing just a few words in a foreign language or a little about a country’s culture can go a long way in meeting people, starting conversations and even making friendships.
between these programs lead me to believe that there is an exchange program that is right for everyone, since programs differ in destination, length, focus and intensity. One of the most valuable aspects common to my exchange programs was their inclusion of homestays with host families. I built relationships with my host families, friends and other members of the communities with which I interacted. Building relationships is not only fulfilling on a personal level, but it also humanizes a country. It is easy to view a country simply as an embodiment of its government, but by getting to know individuals in the country I have learned more about a country’s society and not just its politics. Staying with a family also provides insight into what people experience in their day-to-day lives and gives a relatively balanced view of life in their country. I spent my sophomore year in Germany in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program — a merit-based scholarship program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State — and lived with a host family for 12 months. Initially, my goal in traveling to Germany was to attain fluency in German, which I did ultimately accomplish. By staying in Germany for an entire year with a host family and without my parents, I benefited in other ways. My immediate host family — mother, father and younger brother — had a large, extended family that lived in the same city, so throughout the year I experienced dozens of birthday parties, a wedding, the 50th anniversary of my host grandparents, holidays and other memorable family moments. By participating in a year-long stay, I was able to become a part of the family and a part of Germany — I even rooted for Germany in the World Cup and celebrated their wins by bicycling through the streets with my host brother (but only after the U.S. had been eliminated!). Living with a family, attending a public school in a foreign country, participating in an internship at a German company and speaking a foreign language all day, every day presented unique opportunities but also difficulties. In some ways, I would actually recommend participating in a short-term exchange before a full semester or full year program. However, my study of German at Durham Academy facilitated my transition and helped me overcome and learn from the many challenges I faced. Part of the enjoyment and goal of an exchange is venturing into the unknown and
experiencing moments that never even crossed your mind before they occurred. My year in Germany helped me become more independent, adaptable and mature; I still view it as a time of significant personal growth and achievement. I would recommend the exchange experience — especially as a student in high school — because there is truly no comparable way to gain a better understanding and appreciation not only of a country’s language and culture, but also of the interconnected nature of the global world and the role that different countries and people play on the international stage.
A positive experience in Germany led me to pursue other exchange opportunities. When I was 16 years old, I was awarded a merit-based scholarship from the Korea Foundation for a two-week cultural immersion program in South Korea. Unlike my program in Germany, which focused on a homestay and both language and cultural immersion, the program in South Korea focused on providing an introduction to the country and culture. In Seoul, I had a weekend homestay with a girl similar to me in age. Her classmate was also hosting an exchange student, and over the three days we spent with them, they introduced us to popular places for teenagers in the city, including parks, music stores, shops and restaurants. Even though our stay was short, we were able to view the city through the eyes of students our age instead of just as tourists, and we learned more about their lives in South Korea. Since the program was sponsored by the South Korean government, in addition to seeing tourist sites and even Korean factories, I was also able to visit the Demilitarized Zone which separates North Korea from the South. Because my trip was shortly after North Korea had sunk a South Korean naval ship, the political situation between military troops and civilians at the border was especially relevant and interesting. The tension was noticeable, and our guides taught us about the perspectives of both the South and North Koreans on the conflict. The program provided a unique perspective on Korea and deepened my understanding of its relationship with the U.S.
The next summer I was selected to participate in a seven-week Mandarin Chinese immersion program through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, a meritbased scholarship program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. My summer in China was focused primarily on intensive language acquisition, with travel and cultural excursions being a secondary focus. We experienced life in a Chinese boarding school, living with Chinese roommates and attending classes. We had four to five hours of daily classroom instruction in Mandarin Chinese; the remainder of each day we were expected to apply as much of our language learning as possible through interactions with our Chinese roommates and people in the local community. On the weekends we went home with students to stay with their families. To a certain extent, we were experiencing the same life as our Chinese classmates, who also only spent time with their families on the weekends. One of my favorite memories is cooking a traditional noodle dish with my host grandmother and host sister according to the grandmother’s family recipe. My host family and I visited my host grandmother every weekend, and on my last weekend in China she made noodles as a goodbye meal because she knew how much I liked them. My participation in three different exchange programs in three different countries has been incredibly enriching. It is a wonderful feeling when you hear a country’s name or read it on a map and, instead of the nearly blank slate that the country held in your mind, you now have a much better conception of what that country is like in terms of its society, culture, history and politics. Participation in exchange programs is becoming increasingly accessible. The programs I participated in were merit-based scholarships sponsored by government organizations. These experiences have helped me identify and refine my interests and goals for college and later life. I will be attending the University of Pennsylvania in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, a program focused on helping students develop a multidisciplinary approach to solving problems in an international context. Through this program, I hope to further expand my knowledge, skills and experience, and determine how I want to apply my interest in languages and culture to a future career.
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Hershey Award Winner Glynis Hill-Chandler
She brings warmth and understanding as school counselor By Margarita Throop, Spanish, Upper School
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he 2012 recipient of the F. Robertson Hershey Distinguished Faculty Award is truly appreciated by her colleagues. They say she “touches the lives of students and teachers every day” and is a wonderful resource, an extraordinary educator, creative, charismatic and inspiring. Glynis HillChandler joined The Hill Center in 1999 and serves as dean of students and counselor for students in kindergarten through grade 12. Her work has an impact on students, teachers, administrators, parents and the larger community. The Hill Center’s central mission is “to transform students with learning differences into confident, independent learners.” Active and engaged with every constituency of the school, Hill-Chandler passionately helps carry this mission forward every day. As dean of students, Hill-Chandler works with discipline issues. Although the conversations she must have are often difficult, she shows compassion and sensitivity, helping students to understand how their behavior is inappropriate and coaching them to meet the expectations of the classroom and the school. Students come away feeling supported and respected. “Glynis helps students to balance a sense of responsibility with a feeling of self-esteem,” said one colleague. As school counselor, Hill-Chandler shows great imagination and has expanded her contact with students. She aids students of all ages in developing appropriate social skills and habits of cooperation that will help them navigate their interactions with peers and teachers. She helps new students understand their learning differences and how to smoothly transition from their base schools. She holds a freshman seminar in which students examine their individual learning styles and learn how to advocate for themselves. She guides upper classmen in their college searches. Hill-Chandler brings warmth and understanding to her counselor role. Young people respond to her reassuring manner and feel safe as she listens thoughtfully to their concerns. Her genuine interest allows them to find their own voice. The positive regard they have for her is expressed in these student quotes: “Mrs. Hill-Chandler is nice and kind and makes me feel happy;” “She gives good hugs;” and “She teaches you how to be friendly.” A colleague has said that, after working with Hill-Chandler, students “understand their strengths and know how to better handle their weaknesses.” Hill-Chandler plans activities focused on building student selfconfidence. Social events such as slumber parties and ski trips, which she helps chaperone, provide opportunities for informal conversations about friendship and respect for others, as well as women’s issues. The talent show Hill-Chandler coordinates showcases the often unrecognized interests — ranging from ceramic artwork to skateboarding — that young people hone outside the classroom. 24
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ABOVE: Hill Center students respond to Glynis Hill-Chandler’s reassuring manner.
One of Hill-Chandler’s trademark contributions has been the Creative Group. Over the course of many weeks, a group of lower and middle school students comes together to plan a show. Hill-Chandler encourages and guides, but the work is largely driven by the students’ inventiveness and enthusiasm. Starting with rather brief meetings during breaks, the students brainstorm themes; they then write a script and rehearse for their performance. Slowly, the students see their ideas take form. Students learn the importance of collaboration, and they experience a tremendous sense of pride in their accomplishment. They truly shine, as the entire school and parents enjoy the unique result of their efforts. Parents of Hill Center students appreciate the communication HillChandler has with them. She organizes a parents’ education series that is precise, informative and centered on what they need to know. The sessions include topics such as medication, homework management, understanding individualized education plans and technology. With her assistance, they learn how to tap into outside resources, and her initiatives help lead the effort to provide support and clarity to parents. She often serves as a liaison between The Hill Center and the students’ base schools. Her grasp of each student’s academic needs is critical in producing their Individualized Educational Plan. She is in and out of classrooms regularly, observing students and giving suggestions to teachers on how to better meet their needs. As a team leader, she coordinates monthly level meetings. Beyond that, her colleagues often turn to her for advice on such things as how to reduce their own stress. She is observant of others’ feelings and nurtures all those around her. Fellow faculty members see Hill-Chandler as a valuable asset and “one in a million.” Hill-Chandler has contributed in a variety of ways to the highly regarded outreach team, which provides resources to educators beyond The Hill Center. She regularly presents teacher workshops on topics such as understanding brain research and learning differences. She has helped develop online courses dealing with differentiated instruction and understanding learning differences. Although it sounds as if there is no time left for other activities, HillChandler enjoys a full life away from school. She has a close relationship with her husband and two adult children, and she is often involved in community projects. She has a wide circle of friends, as people are drawn to her boundless energy and fun-loving personality. Glynis Hill-Chandler is a worthy recipient of this year’s Hershey Award. EDITOR’S NOTE: Margarita Throop was the 2011 recipient of the F. Robertson Hershey Distinguished Faculty Award.
Trustees Welcome New Members THE DURHAM ACADEMY BOARD OF TRUSTEES WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS: Elizabeth Aldridge, Lee Baker, Wendy Brooks, Jamie Krzyzewski Spatola ’00, Janis Bergman Tillman ’84 and Neal Triplett.
Elizabeth Aldridge
Lee Baker
Wendy Brooks
Jamie Krzyzewski Spatola ’00
Janis Bergman Tillman ’84
Neal Triplett
• Elizabeth Aldridge is a graduate of Duke University and holds a
• Jamie Krzyzewski Spatola ’00 is a graduate of Durham Academy and
master’s degree in English literature from UNC-Greensboro. She taught
Duke University, and holds an M.B.A. from Cameron University and an
English at Summit School in Winston-Salem before moving to Durham
M.A. from Duke. She is co-author of two books; a writer for Mental Floss,
in 1998. She is president of Parents Association and has served as both
Inc.; secretary of Emily K Center Board of Directors and administrator for
Preschool and Lower School representative to Parents Council. She is the
Duke Basketball Camp. She is president of DA Alumni Board and a member
mother of Liza, a rising eighth-grader, and Caroline, a rising fourth-grader.
of the Head of School Search Committee. She is the mother of John David, 2 1/2, and Mackenzie, 6 months.
• Lee Baker is a graduate of Portland State University and holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Temple University. He is professor of cultural
• Janis Bergman Tillman ’84 is a graduate of Durham Academy and
anthropology, dean of academic affairs and associate vice provost for
Duke University. She was self-employed with Moondance Gallery for 17
undergraduate education at Duke University. He has served on Durham
years and is a community volunteer. She has been co-chairwoman of the DA
Academy’s Learning Environment Committee. He is the father of Yaa
Benefit Auction for two consecutive years, has served on the Parent Athletic
Baker, a rising eighth-grader.
Committee for two years, and has been a room parent and a new family mentor. She is the mother of Jake, a rising junior, and Julia, a rising freshman.
• Wendy Brooks is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate and salutatorian of Princeton University, holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from
• Neal Triplett is a graduate of Duke University and holds an M.B.A. from
Duke University and is a graduate of Duke University School of Law. She is
Duke. He is president of DUMAC, Inc., which manages Duke University’s
a partner with the Kennon, Craver law firm in Durham, where her specialty
investment assets. He is chairman of the MCNC Investment Board, serves
is trusts and estates law. She has been a member of Durham Academy’s
on the Investment Advisory Committee for the State of NC Retirement Plans
Learning Environment Committee. She is the mother of Grace, a rising
and is on the board of directors of Brown Advisory Mutual Funds. He has
fourth-grader.
been a volunteer with DA’s Evergreen Campaign. He is the father of Luke, a rising fifth-grader, and Noah, a rising second-grader.
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FROM THE GREEN FROM THE GREEN F R O M
T H E
Retiring teachers spent 96 years at DA •
G R E E N
Puri and DA classmate Ethan Grant became candidates for the When retiring faculty members Presidential Scholar award by Dave Gould, Mary Kendall, Pauline virtue of their SAT scores, which Kuyper and Pete McWilliams left were among the 20 highest in in June, they carried with them North Carolina. Both students 96 years of service to Durham were selected as semifinalists after Academy. The four will be greatly completing an extensive application missed. • Indira Puri selected as that included essay questions Dave Gould came to DA in U.S. Presidential Scholar asking them to describe themselves, 1981 and taught history at the Durham Academy senior how they viewed the world and Upper School for 31 years. He Indira Puri has been named as one their place in it. served for many years of North Carolina’s two In addition to her outstanding as director of US U.S. Presidential Scholars academic credentials, Puri has special programs, for 2012. One female been a member of Durham which included the and one male from each Academy’s chess team, debate outdoor education state are selected for the team and Indian dance club. She trips each class took award, which recognizes has been the North Carolina girls’ at the beginning of high school seniors for chess champion twice, as well the school year, their accomplishments as the National Girls’ Chess Coas well as the US in academics or the Champion in her age group. Puri Dave Gould seminar program. arts. The awards were has trained to be a professional Mary Kendall presented June 16 in Indian classical dancer. She has began her DA Washington, D.C. been ranked third in the nation career in 1992 as The White House in Congressional Debate and the Lower School Commission on was a four-time qualifier for the reading specialist. She Presidential Scholars National Forensic League national continued in that role selects scholars based on tournament. for 20 years, teaching their academic success, Puri is Durham Academy’s at the Academy Road artistic excellence, essays, third U.S. Presidential Scholar. Mary Kendall campus in what school evaluations and DA’s past award winners were was known as the transcripts, as well as Megan Mikhail in 2010 and Roger “reading trailer,” then evidence of community Brooks in 1980. moving to a spacious service, leadership reading lab when and demonstrated • Cum Laude inducts the new LS campus commitment to high nine seniors, 11 juniors opened in 2002. ideals. Twenty Durham Academy Pauline Kuyper “I was surprised students have been inducted into joined DA’s Preschool and happy to be named the Cum Laude Society, recognizing faculty in 1998 as a a Presidential Scholar,” their place among the top 10 Pauline Kuyper kindergarten teaching said Puri, who will attend percent of the school’s junior and assistant. She taught Harvard University in senior classes. Seniors tapped for with Preschool the fall. the Cum Laude Society were Josh Director Sheppy Each Presidential Choper, Maggie Coates, In-Young Vann for 14 years Scholar can invite his or Jo, Chris Lee, Giulia Lopomo, and worked with the her most inspiring and Carey Marr, Jordan Myers, Simone PS faculty in her role challenging teacher to Robinson and Abhiyant Singh. as assistant to the accompany him or her Junior inductees were Raghav director. and receive a Teacher Bansal, David Bradley, Lily Doron, Pete McWilliams Pete Recognition Award from Amanda Jowell, Ashley Jowell, McWilliams arrived at the U.S. Department of Maeve Lentricchia, Zander Moss, DA in 1981 and taught seventhEducation. Puri’s favorite subject Evan Murray, Dita Sankar, Ben grade language arts for 31 years, is math, and she is honoring math Taylor and Emily Zoffer. which included a speech contest teacher Dennis Cullen. Frank Lentricchia, father of 26
seventh-graders remember as a rite of passage. McWilliams also served as seventh-grade boys basketball coach for more than 20 years. Best wishes to these four wonderful teachers on their welldeserved retirement.
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
junior inductee Maeve Lentricchia and a Duke professor, spoke at the Feb. 26 induction ceremony. To read his remarks, visit www.da.org/ magazine.
Five DA students selected for Governor’s School •
Five Durham Academy students are among the 550 rising high school juniors and seniors selected to attend North Carolina Governor’s School this summer. The students and their respective areas of study are Natalie Plonk, dance; Maeve Lentricchia, English; Charlie Dektar and Ashley Jowell, French; and Xander Moss, theater. North Carolina Governor’s School is the nation’s oldest statewide summer residential program for academically or intellectually gifted high school students. The six-week program integrates academic disciplines, the arts and unique courses.
West Side Story breaks attendance records for DA musical •
West Side Story, the Upper School winter musical, drew record crowds to Kenan Auditorium Feb. 16-18 for a professional-caliber production of a show that has captivated audiences since opening on Broadway more than 50 years ago. “Attendance eclipsed last year’s production of Guys and Dolls [which played to nearly 1,500 people over four performances], and the cast and crew loved doing this show — they didn’t want it to end,” said James Bohanek, Upper School theater director. West Side Story was a triumphant success on many levels, shared by more than 80 US students in the cast, crew and orchestra, working alongside the Upper School performing arts faculty and a fantastic team of outside professional designers.
Spring Reception
ALUMNI SPRING RECEPTION EMAIL: ALUMNI@DA.ORG WEBSITE: W W W.DA.ORG/ALUMNI
The inaugural Spring Alumni Reception was held on April 13, and it was a huge success. One-hundred-and-forty alumni, current and former faculty, friends and family gathered in the new Upper School Learning Commons to honor Dave Gould and Jim Sidbury ’76. Jim Sidbury received the Distinguished Alumni Award, while Dave Gould was given the first-ever Faculty and Staff Legacy Award. Both men were honored to have been chosen to receive the awards and were thrilled that so many could attend this special evening. Photos by Megan Morr DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
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JIM SIDBURY ’76
Deep Connections by Kathy McPherson, Associate Director of Communications
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Photos by Megan Morr
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im Sidbury’s connections to Durham Academy are both deep and wide. He graduated from DA in 1976 and taught and coached at the Upper School from 1982-85. The school was located in the old John Sprunt Hill house on Duke Street when Sidbury arrived for kindergarten. He was a second-grader when DA moved to a new campus on Academy Road in 1966. And he was in one of the first two classes to come to the Upper School when it opened on Ridge Road. What the 2012 recipient of DA’s Distinguished Alumni Award remembers about those years is that the faculty was “amazingly wonderful and they were given latitude on what to teach and how.” Sidbury took AP U.S. History the first year it was offered at DA and read The American Political Tradition by Richard Hofstadter. “It taught us how historians think about the past and that sustained me until today. It gave me the ability to study history at the next level,” said Sidbury. Today he is the Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and an expert on race and slavery in the English-speaking Atlantic world from the 17th to 19th centuries. Sidbury has a special interest in the ways non-elite peoples conceived of their histories and, through their histories, their collective identities. He has written numerous books and essays, and is currently working on a book analyzing the period of the American Revolution as an era of race formation. He earned B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University, and taught at the University of Texas at Austin 1991-2011. Speaking at DA’s spring alumni reception on April 13, Sidbury talked about colleagues he was taught by or taught with who are still teaching at the Upper School. “Dave Gould, Jim Ebert, Greg
TOP: Owen Astrachan and Jim Sidbury catch up with old friends at the spring alumni reception. MIDDLE: Sidbury and Alumni Board President Rob Everett ’86 enjoy Owen Astrachan’s remarks about what it was like to teach with Sidbury. BOTTOM: Sidbury, Astrachan and Athletic Director Steve Engebretsen worked together at DA in the 1980s.
Murray, Lou Parry, Jim Speir and Steve Engebretsen helped students figure out what kind of person they wanted to be. DA did that for me, and I was able to do that for others,” he said. Sidbury spoke earlier that day at an Upper School assembly and told the story of an event that occurred 200 years ago off the coast of West Africa. It was the account of a meeting between an Englishman, John Clarkson, and King Naimbana, of what is now Sierra Leone, and the inability of the two cultures to come to grips with each other. Sidbury used the story to illustrate how important it is to develop a greater appreciation for people who have fundamentally different values. He encouraged Upper School students to “study cultures and literature of people who are different from you. Get a sense of how strange and unusual you look to other cultures.”
Calendar
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ALUMNI
CALENDAR September 18 • 5:30 p.m.
Alumni Board Meeting
October 12 • 5 p.m. October 13 • 7 p.m.
Fall Alumni Weekend – Pregame Social sponsored by Big Boss Brewery (Upper School Lacrosse Field)
FRIDAY, OCT. 12
November 5 • 5:30 p.m.
Alumni Board Meeting
• 5 p.m. – Alumni Pregame Social and Cookout
November 10 • 8 a.m.
Turkey Trot 5 K Run
November 21 • 8 p.m.
DA Alumni Party @ Alivia’s Durham Bistro
February 12 • 5:30 p.m.
Alumni Board Meeting
• 7 p.m. - Tobacco Road Café, Durham
March 7 • 7:00 p.m.
DA Benefit Auction at The Cotton Room
For more information and to register for the reunion parties, visit www.da.org/fallalumniweekend
March 21 • 6:30 p.m.
Alumni Networking Event in Charlotte
April 2 • 5:30 p.m.
Alumni Board Meeting
April 4 • 6:30 p.m.
Alumni Networking Event in Atlanta, GA
April 12 • 6 p.m.
Spring Alumni Reception
April 18 • 6:30 p.m.
Alumni Networking Event in Washington, DC
April 25 • 6:30 p.m.
Alumni Networking Event in New York City
May 2 • 1 p.m.
DA Golf Tournament
SAVE THE DATE 2012 Fall Alumni Weekend • Oct. 12 and 13 Homecoming Events Sponsored by Big Boss Brewery
• 6:30 p.m. – Varsity Boys Soccer Game SATURDAY, OCT. 13
R eunion Pa r t ie s f or C l a s s e s e n d i n g i n 2 s a n d 7s
Reunion Parties @ Tobacco Road Café, Durham (Classes Ending in 2s and 7s)
Visit www.da.org/alumni for updates on venues and any additional alumni information
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Dave Gould
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DAVE GOULD RECEIVES INITIAL FACULTY AND STAFF LEGACY AWARD
A teacher who changed his students’ lives When a student has the privilege of sharing an educational experience like this with a teacher, that student has a tendency to feel a certain ownership over that experience. Mr. Gould was MY teacher, and the things that he taught were the things that spoke to ME and changed my thinking during an incredibly Dave Gould through the impactful time in my life. But eyes of Jamie Krzyzewski over the years, as I spoke with Spatola ’00, Alumni Board other alumni about Gould, vice president and, in particular, when the board discussed the award, or me, and I suspect I learned that the experience for many of you, I believe that that is so singular in my the very best thing our Alumni world actually has a profound Board did this year was to plurality. To think, Mr. Gould, select Mr. Dave Gould as the of all of the lives you’ve first [Faculty and Staff] Legacy changed — how many soggy Award recipient. Mr. Dave saltines discarded and paradigms Gould — the Birkenstock- shifted under your watch. with-sock-wearing, AustraliaHow many times you helped loving, mustache-sporting so many of us get off the fence teacher who changed my life. and to consider the “why” Like so many of Durham of the thing — not merely Academy’s incredible faculty, the “whos,” “whens” and Gould has a gift for recognizing “wheres.” How many citizens potential in each of his students. of the world are out there He also has rigorous and THIMKING only because you uncompromising standards that taught them how to do so. come with the insistence that That is the legacy of a potential is not enough. He great teacher. I speak proudly asks his students to be skeptical, on behalf of your former creative and original — much students when I say — you are like the man himself. Couple a really, really weird guy; you with that a sincere and very are terribly competitive and obvious joy in learning and stubborn; you caused me so a recognition that learning is much frustration in challenging continuous and lifelong. He is me to stretch my limits as a the kind of teacher who helps student — and you changed his students figure out who they my life. And I am one of many. are and helps determine who Gould, I hope that today you they will eventually become. feel as proud as we feel lucky.
F
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Dave Gould through the eyes of Middle School history teacher Tim Dahlgren
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ave’s love of life has been evident ever since I met him. His unique outlook and his absolute joy for life and people and for getting as much out of it as possible are things that make Dave such a special person. He has been shaped by his life experiences and this love of adventure is transferred to his students and his friends. Being around him, you can’t help but be sucked into this way of living and enjoying life. With his students in the classroom, the crazy challenges he presented them with, be it a table hockey game to see if the class had to take a test or write a paper, his famous THIMK sign, his healthy and invigorating skepticism, his love of finding connections between past and present, and his ability to teach kids to think and to write are the skills and attitudes that are present in his classroom each and every day. He has the ability to engage kids, to make them learn without even realizing that learning is going on. He captures his audience and brings out the best in them. And, he does this at the same time he is demonstrating his love of life and his true and genuine interest in them as young adults. Dave Gould, what a great recipient of this initial [Faculty
and Staff] Legacy Award. As a noun, legacy is defined as an amount of money or property handed down by a predecessor. Well, it’s not money that Dave had handed down to all of us here. It is something that is far more valuable than money, it’s an outlook on life that he has shared with all of us. And, as an adjective, legacy is defined as ‘software or hardware that has been superseded but is difficult to replace because of its widespread use.’ I am not sure that the type of teacher and person that Dave Gould is will ever be superseded by one who comes after him. Gould’s influence, perspective, attitude and outlook have been contagious to those around him. And, we, who have been around him, have been blessed to be touched by Gouldie. Dave’s true legacy at DA will be evident in the generations of students and teachers who remember his passion in the classroom and his joyful, spontaneous outlook on life and the way in which he led them to become better thinkers, better writers and better people. RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM: Alumni Board honors Dave Gould with the first Faculty and Staff Legacy Award. • Jamie Krzyzweski Spatola ’00 said Gould asked students to be “skeptical, creative and original — much like the man himself.” • Tim Dahlgren said Gould taught students to think and to write. • Gould and wife Lyn listen to remarks by Spatola and Dahlgren.
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FREEDOM, COLLEAGUES AND CAMPUS KEPT DAVE GOULD AT DA
Photos by Megan Morr
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ave Gould was honored as the initial recipient of the Alumni Board’s new Durham Academy Faculty and Staff Legacy Award, but he never intended to become a teacher. The legendary Gould, who has taught history at DA since 1981, was going to be a businessman like his father. “I was never, ever going to be a teacher,” Gould said just before being presented the faculty award at the Spring Alumni Reception on April 13. Gould had graduated from Hamilton College and was working in banking in San Francisco in the 1970s when he decided to quit his job and travel the world with a couple of friends. He met his wife, Lyn, in Africa and followed her back to her native Australia. He took a job for $85 a week teaching Greek immigrants in Sydney, and said, “I guess that’s where the madness began.” He has been teaching ever since. “I turned up at Durham Academy in 1981 and intended to be here for two to three years,” remembered Gould. “The fact that I’m still here is a testament to this particular school.” There were forays abroad during his DA tenure. Gould was able to indulge his love of travel and adventure by teaching in China for six months in 1988, by participating in a year-long teacher exchange in Australia in 1994-95 and by receiving a sabbatical grant to study at St. Andrews, Scotland, for fall semester in 2003. “Three things kept me coming back to DA,” said Gould. “First, the school offered unlimited freedom. It was like teaching in college. Freedom was endemic to the Middle School and Upper School. Second, the people who are here, the people you work with — their friendliness, colleagueship, support and interest in you as a person first and teacher second. And third, the architecture of the school; both the Middle School and the Upper School had no corridors. It was wide open, there were outdoor lockers, you would eat in the yard and get tough. There was so much open space and I felt a part of the outdoors. Those three things created an opportunity for anybody who wanted to be free to teach what they want.” A lifetime in the classroom was not the career Gould had envisioned, but it was the right place for him. “You don’t go into teaching for money; it’s the opposite,” he said. “It meant I was in a place I wanted to be for the reasons I wanted to be. I could be weird.” And then there are his students, who remember his classes long after they have left Durham Academy. “I love teenagers, I appreciate them for who they are,” said Gould. “To be in teaching is to infect them so they remember they had the capability to do much more than they thought they could. It’s an opportunity to go beyond themselves if they look inside and say ‘I can do that. It’s my decision … to be who I want to be.’ ” – Kathy McPherson, Associate Director of Communications DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
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CLASS NOTES Classes of 1961-1974
Katherine White ’67 Kwhite10@mindspring.com Owen Gwyn ’71, founder and chairman of GEOCORP and president of North Carolina Estates, has served the global real estate community since 1976. He follows the North Carolina Constitutional mandate to “conserve and protect all lands and water and ... to preserve as a part of the common heritage ... its forests, wetlands, estuaries, beaches, historical sites, open lands, and places of beauty.” Owen’s proactivism in this regard has led him to become a charter member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation Real Estate Program as a certified historic property specialist. He has served as world president of the International Real Estate Federation. Founded in Paris in 1948, this prestigious real estate network boasts members
Clas 77 Class of 1977 Reunion
from over 60 countries. Owen was a founding member of the North Carolina Travel and Tourism Board, and in March he became the chairperson of the Global Housing Foundation, a United Nations Habitat partner dedicated to building workforce housing projects on a global basis. “Our initial effort was in Managua, Nicaragua, and today we are doing a project in Panama City,” Owen said. “The GHF founder, E. Rene Frank, was focused on Central America, but the need for shelter is universal, and I hope that one day soon, we’ll be building workforce housing in Carolina.” Haskell Fitz-Simons ’67 will celebrate his 30th anniversary as artistic director of Raleigh Little Theatre in the 2012-13 season, featuring a diverse lineup that ranges from Snow White to Oscar Wilde to an area premiere. Carolyn Vaughn ’67 worked at Duke for 25 years in development and has been a photographer since age 16. Her work has appeared in “Contemporary North Carolina Photography from the Museum’s Collection” at the North Carolina Museum of Art. In 2011, Carolyn’s
DA Fall Alumni Weekend
Oct. 12 & 13, 2012 work was Maddox reports Spread the word. shown in two that he bought a Register at www.da.org/alumni exhibitions tuba this year, a at NCMA: sousaphone that “Mirror to “occupies maybe Mirror, Woman Portraying 17 percent of our New York City Women” and “Landscapes apartment.” He returned to the Sublime.” She is known for the Amazon, where he spent 10 days unusual in portraits and work with organizations that focus on that pushes the boundaries of self, health care and environmental identify, gender and age. Helen sustainability in small villages. White ’68 and partner Wayne He’s also helping to book bands Henderson have recently issued at an Afro-Peruvian jazz club in a CD of their old-time country Manhattan. He joined Marta as a music called “Live from Virginia.” spouse attendee at the annual Davos Helen, a retired elementary school conference, which sounds like guidance counselor, has traveled the best way to attend the confab. extensively through France with Dr. Elizabeth Oates, whose two Wayne; Helen plays fiddle and daughters will be in the DA Upper back up-guitar and sings with School next year, reports, “It is Wayne, who is a renowned guitar strange, that up until this year all maker and flat picker. They are the places that our class hung out regulars at bluegrass festivals in at the Upper School – the library, North Carolina, Virginia and the gym, the little ‘auditorium’ Washington. They played in (remember Mr. Solie’s movies?) – Durham last year at The Learned were all still there and looked much Place. the same, but now, in the space of about a year-and-a-half, all those places are gone.” There’s no stopping progress. My big news is that Minky Gordon Crovitz ’76 gave birth to No. 3 son, Tom, who gordon.crovitz@gmail.com is doing his best to catch up to his older brothers. I now wish I had not One of our historians, Tim done this math, but note that while Borstelmann, reports that he and Tim Borstelmann is becoming an Lynn are becoming empty nesters, empty nester this year, my sons will with their youngest son, Danny, be college classes of 2024, 2027 and going off to study architecture 2032. at Washington University in St. Louis. Tim and Lynn will be splitting their time between Tim’s campus in Lincoln and Lynn’s Erik France ’78 job in Omaha. Tim’s latest book, Efrance23@gmail.com published last year, is The 1970s: A New Global History from Civil Sherry Holtzclaw observes that Rights to Economic Inequality, about keeping up with two teenage a decade we all should be able to girls is fun and exhausting. She remember. In addition to working still manages to fit in some great at the North Carolina Museum of trips and remain involved in the Art, Billie (Fran Worde) Mann, community. Kerr McCutcheon continues doing pet portraits, Art notes that he lives not too far from by Billie (check it out at artbybillie. the DA Upper School campus. He com). She and Rob are celebrating continues to work in a sales position their 13th anniversary, with their with Allscripts in Raleigh where three cats and three dogs. David he’s been employed for 12 years.
Class of 1976
Class of 1978
ABOVE: Can you identify members of the Class of 1967 in this photo taken in 1961 at their sixth-grade graduation? Email their names to Associate Director of Alumni Affairs Tim McKenna at tim.mckenna@da.org and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a DA-related prize! 32
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ss Notes 82 Class of 1982 Reunion
“Allscripts is a medical software company providing electronic medical record and billing solutions for hospitals and medical practices throughout the United States.” Kenny Randall reports that he served on a state review committee to review Michigan’s child support formula in family law cases; their recommendations, adopted by the Michigan Supreme Court, go into effect next January. He and his wife, Anne, are greatly enjoying their son, Cameron, and also employing their cameras. They’re planning a photographic journey through Alaska later this year. Diane Stadler writes that she’s lived in Portland, Ore., since 2000 with her husband, Scott, and three children, Chris, Emily and Jon. She works at Oregon Health and Science University as director of the graduate programs in human nutrition. I caught her just in time: she was preparing to head out of town with a group of graduate students for her fourth medical mission trip to the mountains of Honduras. “Always an adventure! Life is good!” Same is true for life here in Fort Worth, Texas, where I continue to serve as assistant library director at Tarrant County College (South Campus).
Class of 1980 Elizabeth Old Ker eoker@mac.com
Marjorie Miller continues to work at the Trent Center for Bioethics at Duke. She caught up with Anne Evans Trotter over the holidays, enjoys seeing Emily Oliver, Deb Anderson, Greg Hulka and Jack Pless occasionally around Durham or DA, and recently saw Beth Semans Hubbard and Sarah Sabiston in town. Marjorie’s daughter, Meredith, will graduate from DA in June and head off to Smith College in Massachusetts this fall.
Rick Morgan started a company called The Reuse Warehouse. The main mission of the company is to prevent new and used building materials from going to the landfill. “I have a large warehouse at 800 Taylor Street (Google Map or GPS 900 Taylor) in Durham. We are downtown. We have new and used building materials and architectural salvage items at the lowest prices. Cabinets, lumber, flooring, heartpine and oak beams, old vintage doors and windows, and lots of tile just to name a few things.” And as for Elizabeth Old Ker, “Kids are keeping my husband, Rab, and me busy at 17 (college time!), 13 and 11 years old. I’m enjoying representing portrait artists, which I’ve done for 12 years or so, volunteering in our childrens’ schools and activities, playing racquet sports and keeping up with my parents who live in the area.”
Class of 1984
Durann Williams Durann.williams@gmail.com Chris Verwoerdt is still in Winston-Salem, and his twins, William and Lathan, have received their learner’s permits. With school work and lacrosse games, life is full. Janis Bergman Tillman and her family are doing well in Chapel Hill. She was active again this year with the DA auction, which was held in downtown Durham at the recently opened Cotton Room. Beth Brown Bennett writes that all is well in Oklahoma. She is enjoying a household with all those teenagers and staying busy with track meets, college applications and prom. Like many of our classmates with children, Beth is dealing with the joys of children learning to drive. As for me, Durann Williams, I was married in late April in Chapel
DA Fall Alumni Weekend Oct. 12 & 13, 2012
Spread the word. Register at www.da.org/alumni
Hill. It was wonderful to see the host of DA connections through the gathering of extended family and friends. David Gould, our former teacher, mentor and personal yogi to many, was able to attend. It is remarkable to see how he continues to light the way for living life well. If you have any updates, I can be reached on Facebook or via email.
Class of 1986 Rob Everett Jonathan Avery rob@teamapartments.com javery@ravenscroft.org
Salvete ’86ers. For those who missed our 25th Reunion, we pity you. Here’s why. Friday’s homecoming was a smash, as the Big Boss owners Geoff Lamb (joined by wife Loren) and Andrew King set up a rollicking beer tent that set the tone for the weekend. Attending on Friday were: Lisa Tulchin, Alan Ellis, Maura Moylan, Thomas Wicker, Barbara Bossen Deena, Rob Phay and Katherine Bryson Winchell; your correspondents with their respective spouses and kids; and, in a surprise guest appearance, Jay Gallagher. From DA, the gathering moved to Six Plates, a fancy local wine bar partowned by Luke Everett ’93, where the fun and confessions continued. On Saturday night, the crew relocated to the swank new ballroom at Top of the Hill, where we were joined by the inimitable Joe Taylor, and where we drank and mingled with former teachers and other reunion classes. Some highlights/ memories from the Reunion:
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Andrew King discoursing eloquently on the brewing techniques and varietals, leading Katherine to comment: “If I had only known, this guy could have been my friend in high school!” Alan Ellis making sure everyone had a designated driver. Lisa curing her sleep deprivation with extra beverages, and husband Toni admitting that he downloaded all of Mojo Nixon’s songs for free when Mojo was giving them away online (interesting primarily to Avery). Maura Moylan sharing a memory of high school hygiene. Katherine wondering if Rob Everett really “talked that way around his children?” Former math teacher Owen Astrachan quizzing Rob Phay. Former track star Joe Taylor quizzing Thomas Wicker. Jay Gallagher threatening to fight unknown person. Barbara’s husband Shawn and Rob Everett sharing nerdy sci-fi/ Tolkien references, with Barbara rolling eyes appropriately. Geoff Lamb chuckling that mischievous, unique Lamb-laugh that always signaled he would someday be a brewer. Everyone approving of Jon Avery’s wardrobe! And so much more! We expect to see ALL of our classmates again in 25 years ... if not sooner.
Class of 1987
Lawrence Warner Lawrence.warner@gmail.com This year Lawrence Warner, who is writing this and will now switch to first person, met the great Lucinda Williams backstage after her Sydney show. I’m reading Lonesome Dove and hope they don’t make it to Montana because I don’t want it to end. But I hear rumors of a sequel so I’m good. My wife wants me to write medieval crime novels, but I resist. I go running along the harbor every morning at 6:30, and
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the kookaburras know the sound of my footsteps and laugh delightedly at me. Then I report that to my kids, age 1 and 7, who just aren’t that interested in my relationship to the local birdlife. The 1-year-old, Eloise, was the star of the show at her baptism and occasion for Genevieve and me to catch up with some of the best folks out there in June, like, oh, Sybil Robb, Myatt Williams (who likes to buy beer), Kirsten Vollmer, Kirsten Gardener Venema, Jennifer Peter Solomon and Robin Lincoln Elledge. More on some of them below. And, I’ve been teaching medieval poems about uncles who pimp their nieces and husbands who pimp their wives. Do not go down that route is my advice. Kirsten Gardner Venema, in a quest to be more like me, so she says, entered her first 10-mile race on April 21. She hopes to see Myatt and Melissa Kaluzny Williams at the race! Gabe Most graduated from Columbia in 1992 and is now the man who makes NYC what it is. He is also Director of Programs and Special Events American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, which leads projects in the areas of environmental science and ecology, medicine and global health, engineering, biotechnology, Hebrew literature, desert agriculture, water purification and management, and solar energy. Debbie Howe Markland reports: “Moving right along with family fun in Atlanta ... Cole will be in high school next year – still a saxophonist. Jake is a rising seventh grader – theater has become a joy for him. Emma is a rising fourth grader, still spending most her extra time playing soccer. I teach preschool with Jolyn Garbutt Myers ... small world ... saw Jann Garbutt Yankee when she was in town visiting.” And Jann herself checks in too: “Still love Colorado 34
87 Class of 1987 Reunion
DA Fall Alumni Weekend
Oct. 12 & 13, 2012 but miss the with this focus, Spread the word. beaches of NC. and indeed one Register at www.da.org/alumni The girls and I of the few are doing well. outside of Asia. Ria is seven and We have Ella is six. They are fabulous, quickly gained national and energetic spirits who keep me international prominence as one of running non-stop. Hope everyone the pioneers in presenting art from is well and gives me a call if they this region, and we act as a valued travel out west.” That’s quite a resource for curators, writers and cattle run from Sydney but I’ll see collectors seeking to become more about getting a team together. informed about the region’s art Who’s in? I’d bet Catharine scenes. We represent an impressive Campbell is. She is taking classes roster of some of the region’s most to get her appraiser’s license so she highly respected artists, who are can expand her real estate business regularly featured in international into appraisal. That’s what we need biennials, museum exhibitions and if we’re heading west: someone to gallery shows around the world. In help secure us some sweet land. 2012, our artists are participating in Also: “I won a quarter horse in a 10 exhibitions at museums in the raffle and I’m looking forward United States.” Word! Jennifer to travelling to Hawaii for the first Williams Phillips sent along a time.” Adam Spilker and his son, photo of her boyfriend, Billy, and Eiden, biked 150 miles from herself at the ECU Spring Fling Duluth to the Twin Cities to raise where Chris is a sophomore money for MS research. And, he’s studying mechanical engineering. rabbi at Mount Zion Temple in Will is a junior at Durham Saint Paul. Go visit! Jennifer Academy trying to figure out Peter Solomon is still working at where he wants to apply to college Duke Children’s as a nurse next year. (Gulp.) “He has prom practioner and can’t wait to move coming up soon – hard to believe! with husband Mark into their Although their prom is at the almost fully renovated 1911 house Hilton with dinner instead of the in Hillsborough. Come visit! Upper School gym.” Just as well Jennifer also keeps tabs on the since there is no Upper School Durham-area celebrity sighting gym anymore. Cue the nostalgia ... business: Rob Lowe her latest And get Dolph Amick to play catch. As well as Kirsten Gardner the tune. His ren-rock band Venema whom she spotted buying Three-Quarter Ale, in which he fine wine at Leland Little Auctions plays “Wicked Pete Speakeasy,” is in Hillsborough. “You can too, celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Llauctions.com” she writes (I’m But that’s not all: Dolph and wife not above product placement and Cara Cantrell are new parents to neither is JP, it seems). Tyler Valentine Cantrell-Amick, born 10 Rollins Fine Art. That is all you February 2011. Even more need to know. Plus, this: “Tyler exciting, only two weeks earlier, Rollins Fine Art was founded in on January 27, Dolph made a guest 2006 and opened its public gallery appearance on “Tyler Perry’s space in New York City’s Chelsea House of Payne”! What’s the last art district in 2008. One of our we heard about Allison Serafin? primary missions is to present solo Not a lot. Let’s make up for that: exhibitions by major contemporary our high-jump queen graduated artists from throughout the with distinction from UNC. Southeast Asia region. We are the Worked for Delta Air Lines in the only gallery in the United States International “In Flight Service”
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
department. Campbell University Law School 2003. “North Carolina Rising Star” 2011 and 2012 in North Carolina Super Lawyers magazine. Frequent lecturer on social media in the workplace. Author of many articles on workplace law topics. Associate at Jackson Lewis’s Raleigh offices. Gettin. It. Done. Kimberly Weinerth Kuncl reports: “We are still in Cincinnati! It will be six years in July and that is the longest we have lived anywhere! Trevor is 13 and Taylor is 11. Hard to believe! They keep me busy, but I love every minute. The summer is filled with baseball games and tennis matches, but I can’t imagine it any other way. Sadly, in September I lost my mother. I miss her so much. Everyone hug your mom, if you can. They aren’t here long enough.” Our condolences, Kimberly. Making her first-ever appearance in this column is ... Chandler Spaulding! Chandler graduated from UNC in 1991, UCLA Law School in 1994, and is now owner of The Spaulding PR Group in Cary. Stephen Nathans-Kelly has been majorly active in the recall campaign against Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, has published his review of John Irving’s latest novel and still has a great wife, kid, job and life. Except for that governor. Jaci Staunton Pergerson saw Van Halen in April. There is no way she or anyone could top that. Unless to say she is a pharmacist and “is as Republican as they come.” Let’s bring it all home with our own radical poets! We’ve always known that DA ’87 sent loads of clergy into the world, one Pros, and all sorts of folks with cool jobs, lives, children, hobbies and all that stuff that make the world so great. But this year we celebrate our radical poets! They are Jody Hillegas Lewis about whom all that needs saying is: “Find yourself in liminal CONTINUED ON PAGE 36
Beischer D A
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TOM BEISCHER ’87
The Art of Teaching
Tom Beischer brings lessons learned at Durham Academy to his role as a Stanford lecturer By Matt Taylor, Director of Communications
inspiration to teach. almost like a seminar at Stanford. “One reason I was interested It’s when you have a small group, in doing academics and maybe you know each other, and it’s a good becoming a professor, I really do feeling in the class. You get a lot of work think it’s because the teaching was done, but you also have a lot of fun.” ABOVE: Tom Beischer is a lecturer at Stanford University after having studied there as an so good at Durham Academy. Pretty Other fun times at DA for much across the board there are really Beischer included eating lunch in the undergraduate. He earned a master’s in art history at Williams College and a Ph.D. at M.I.T. good teachers,” he said. “I learned top of the gymnasium while Lawrence from people that Warner ’87 “One reason I was interested s a Stanford University “Stanford has been nice in that really took time served as DJ; student, Tom Beischer ’87 spent they’ve given me a lot of freedom to to make sure you listening to Ian in doing academics and an afternoon examining the threeput together new classes and revamp were getting the Patrick ’87 and maybe becoming a professor, dimensional artwork in the school’s old courses,” Beischer said. material, people Timothy Filston Rodin Sculpture Garden with one of Beischer earned his master’s who could be ’87 play in their I really do think it’s because his professors. More than a casual degree in art history from Williams teaching at a band; taking the teaching was so good at visit to inspect some of the campus’s College and his Ph.D. in history, theory college somewhere calculus with Durham Academy.” cultural treasures, the experience served and criticism of architecture from but chose to be at Dennis Cullen, to inform Beischer’s career path. M.I.T. His brother, David Beischer ’85, Durham Academy whom Beischer “That really had a big impact on chair of the Durham Academy Board because that’s the level of student they credits with creating a great classroom me,” Beischer said. “I can remember of Trustees, earned his bachelor’s wanted to affect.” atmosphere; and competing in shot that being a time when I made a degree at Williams. Beischer attended DA starting put and discus as a member of the DA conscious choice to go into art “We thought it was strange that in first grade and came to appreciate track team. history.” two guys from North Carolina would the familiarity he developed with Beischer lives in San Francisco The former Stanford student end up in Western Massachusetts, but his classmates and teachers. That with his wife, Lily, and their two became a Stanford professor. Beischer so it happened,” Beischer said. familiarity was on display in his young children, Anna and Zach. The is a lecturer in the Department of “I tell people I got my Ph.D. at French class at DA, which he said couple attended the San Francisco Art and Art History, as well as the M.I.T., but I became an art historian featured regular attempts to affect a alumni event in February and enjoys Department of Civil and Environmental at Williams,” he added. “It really was French accent by Colin Soloway ’87, watching their nephews participate in Engineering. Architectural design is a great program, and the teaching who years later would be named a extracurricular activities at Durham based in civil and environmental engi- that goes on there is amazing. For two Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. Academy during family visits to the neering, which is why his responsibiliyears, it was a wonderful place to be a “He would always put on this local area. ties bridge separate departments. graduate student.” really horrible French accent, and we “It’s unique to have that His teaching ranges from survey If his experience as a Stanford would all laugh at him, but everybody Durham Academy experience. There’s courses about topics like architecture student informed his interest in art knew each other,” Beischer said. “We something that’s shared there,” since the 1900s to seminars on modern history, Beischer says his time at were reading this fairly difficult French Beischer said. “It’s fun to keep those architectural theory. Durham Academy provided the initial text but still having a lot of fun. It’s ties together.”
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spaces.” And, radicalactsofpoetry. com. And that Jody clearly adores her husband, John, and those three adorable kids. And of course Drew Dellinger. I love that Drew is ours. I get to write about him in class notes. Saying things like, his book of poems Love Letter to the Milky Way is a finalist for the ForeWord Reviews “Book of the Year” awards. His poetry has been quoted in the U.S. Congress. He has shared a podium with Chuck D. He just defended his Ph.D. dissertation “The Mountain Top Vision: Martin Luther King’s Cosmology of Connection” earned at the California Institute of Integral Studies. And you should check out what he had to say about the Occupy movement too – YouTube is your friend. All hail Dr. Dellinger!
Class of 1988
Joe Williams ’88 Laura Zimmerman Whayne ’88 jwwilliams@mba1999.hbs.edu lwhayne@nc.rr.com DA Class of 1988, I hope all are great and I miss each of you. Remember, when you first got your driver’s license and drove to school? I thought of this recently as Laura Zimmerman told me that her kid is in driver’s ed. Time is moving fast, and the value of old friends is higher than ever. I live in Sao Paulo, Brazil, now but will reach out to you more often as I travel back to the U.S. often. Oh, getting back to Laura, her son Hayden just completed driver’s education. He is also 6’2” tall. Her daughter Lew Lew is 10. Laura is a real estate broker with Re/Max Winning Edge and continues to build her jewelry design business. And as always, she is my partner in crime in getting these notes to you every year. Thanks! BTW, real time alert, I got so inspired I just called Laura and said hello! Samirra Wise wrote in as this year ... it is going to snow in Brazil! 36
Just joking, Samirra! She works at the Child Care Services Association as a T.E.A.C.H. health insurance program counselor. Her program helps subsidize insurance costs to N.C. child care centers that are trying to improve the quality of their programs. On a personal note, Samirra and daughter Devin spend quite a bit of time with classmate (and “Auntie”) Kim Singletary-Jackson and her two girls, Zora and Aya. In addition, in the DA spirit of kindergarten class (for those that were lifers, we each planted a vegetable in a garden when we were five years old; mine was a radish) Kim and Samirra have decided to start/ expand their gardens collectively. The two have spent a lot of time sharing bulbs, garden tools, advice and “oohs” and “aahs” over different plants that they see. Finally, a brief visit to Oakland, Calif., which included dinner at Samirra’s uncle’s restaurant, has inspired Samirra to create more meals in the kitchen. She tells us all to check out the Bay Wolf Restaurant if we are ever in the Oakland area. Still in N.C. but heading to the coast we caught up with Kristen Stallings Jupena in Wilmington. She still loves the beach and the area. Her oldest child, Jake, is going to middle school next year, which he is very excited about, and daughter Catherine is moving into the fourth grade. Nick and Kristen are both still teaching. Nick is becoming a master teacher through UNC-W. The couple plays tennis, as well as watches and cheers their children in their sports. Kristen, I have to catch up with you as I am in Wilmington fairly often. Jennifer Laforce still lives in the Bay Area where she works as a political asylum immigration officer and is expecting her second daughter mid-May. Like Kim and Samirra, she still spends time with DA friends. Jennifer has her annual trip with Lori Bernstein and Cinnamon Rogers who live in Eugene, Ore., and Washington, D.C., respectively, with their husbands and two children. Jennifer had Steve Snider and wife visit for
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
an Easter egg hunt recently and Jen can vouch for the Snider’s hunting abilities. Arlene Edwards continues to enjoy a life in academia. She recently had a manuscript published in an international scholarly journal. Arlene conducts international research related to counseling, especially in the Caribbean. Elizabeth Schiebel Albright wrote back and reports she is “just chasing kids around the yard.” Her 4-year-old starts DA in the fall, and she is excited to rejoin the DA community. Now that is crazy. What an interesting experience that must be to return as a parent. I heard from Shannon Griffin Blake in Atlanta (my goodness I miss Atlanta), and she is doing great. She just found out that she received a promotion to branch chief of program implementation and development at the CDC in Atlanta. It is a very important and a big job, and she is totally psyched about it. Their two kids are keeping her and Todd busy. Also in Atlanta we find Amy Crill Malone. She has three children (Robert, 11; William, 9; and daughter Reeves, 6). She cannot seem to keep her breath but reports it is a ton of fun. She has a new profession of which she is very proud; she is president, CEO and founder of the professional carpool driver association. John Ross recently joined the global digital team at PepsiCo as senior digital manager-engagement for food services. He loves working with a billion-dollar brand. As we learn every year in the notes for almost a decade, his restoration project of the 1851 farmhouse continues. John, I am not married yet (close) and do not have kids, but my prediction when I am writing these notes at my kids’ college graduation I will be mentioning the restoration of an 1851 farmhouse. Would you like me to stop by and help? Henry Pye is a happy camper. As many of you may know, Henry is in multifamily development (apartment buildings) and although the housing market is down, Henry’s business is doing very well. Henry tells me he is selling
his house. Henry, this information is supposed to inspire you to tell me where you are moving ... ah the work of a class notes editor is never done. Geordie Zug, the Zugster, is proud to announce the birth of his second child, Lucy, in December 2011. He still lives in Columbia, S.C., and enjoys practicing law in the field of intellectual property. His wife Marcia is a law professor at the University of South Carolina. Speaking of law, Bill Weaver just graduated from law school at Campbell Law School in Raleigh, N.C., and is studying for the bar! He mentions that studying for the bar is fun! We heard from Chris Porter. He is doing well and is very honest in his report: “Work is insane, eight years into the business – good growth, all consuming.” Porter has three kids, all boys, bringing the house down in Chapel Hill. His latest addition, Hayes, is 6 months old. “I also came out of hoops retirement last year and I play on Sunday nights with dads from my son’s school. It’s a riot. I am old. Knees hurt.” You are not old, Porter, just mature like a fine wine. Lee Huskins is the CEO of a healthcare company in California and has a 4-year-old daughter. This was dictated by my Brazilian assistant, so I am pretty sure this is what he said. Let’s see, on my side, I am still in Brazil. Still the entrepreneur, our firm, InDev Capital, is growing up and just survived its first year or so. We have a team of five in an office in Sao Paulo and a small office in NYC. The biggest news is that I am in love with a woman from Spain who lives here in Brazil. We live together, and two immigrants in Brazil is beyond an adventure. Well, it is that time of life so I hope to have a Big Event shortly. I love Sao Paulo but have to get out of the city of 18 million (11 million in the city limits) occasionally so I bought a car. The traffic is so bad I can only use the car on weekends. I will keep you updated on life’s adventures. A girlfriend from Spain and living in Brazil with a Brazilbased real estate investment bank – simply ridiculous!
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LEFT: Vesper, son of Nicole Epstein Ramsdell ’91 RIGHT: There was a great alumni turnout for the Annual DA Golf Tournament, including Danny Lloyd ’71, Stephen Barringer ’81, Will Larson ’02, Charlie Wilson ’89, Torsie Judkins ’91, David Beischer ’85 and Ben Mark ’03.
Class of 1990 Les Evans Les.evans@gmail.com
A crisp spring day in Raleigh and things are well. Our biggest news is that my wife and I both left our respective industries, after 15-plus years, to work together at a small company our friends purchased. We’ve helped open and populate a nice Raleigh office that is just a couple miles from our home. Avery, 7, and Teagan, 3, keep us very busy and entertained. There may be an adopted puppy in our future. Japa Khalsa has some very big news! “We adopted a 10-month-old Native American boy in December of 2011. He is very high energy, and we are all in love. So grateful to have a baby in our lives and we are raising him in connection with his Lakota Sioux roots.” Congratulations, Japa! Leigh Kramer LaFalce and I met at Cat’s Cradle in February with our families to watch her niece and nephews’ band, Delta Rae. She’s so proud of them. “I’m so looking forward to the June 19th release of their debut album, Carry the Fire. I’m hoping to attend their Warner release party in Los Angeles with my sister (Laurie Kramer Holljes ’78), so that I can give the man who signed them a big, giant kiss on the mouth.” John Crumbliss writes, “It’s Durham Academy 24 hours for me. I went to the
DC area DA alumni gathering last night on way home from work. Had a beer and saw some people. Some I didn’t know and a couple I did. My wife, Blake, is expecting in a month. Any one from our class who wants to babysit while mom and dad go out for dinner is welcome.” After 12 years in Jacksonville, N.C., Leigh Taylor Koch is moving to Washington, D.C., in the summer, where her husband will be working at the Pentagon. “We are looking forward to embracing all that the Capital has to offer!” Juan PerezFontán is very busy managing some big changes at the refinery in Spain he works for. “We’re in the middle of an around the clock, 38-day turnaround project. Today is just the 12th day so there is a long way to go yet. Yesterday, we removed a 140 ton catalytic reactor. On Monday we are planning to put a new one its place. I am still playing a lot of soccer, traveling and enjoying my friends.” Betsy Hage writes, “I recently went to Durham Academy for the Distinguished Alumni and Alumni Legacy award reception! David Gould ... AKA the Grand Galah ... received the first Faculty Legacy Award and it was a great night! A lot of our teachers and friends were there and it was a great reminder to me about how blessed I have been to have such great mentors and teachers in my life! I am still
working in Raleigh trying to be a good physical therapy teacher. Aside from home health PT, I also continue to operate my own business called PreOperative Home Assessments! Love to the class of 1990 and happy 40th to all those who jump that hurdle this year!” Mark Simpson has wrapped up a two-year project in South Carolina and is in the process of moving back to San Diego. His plan is to get back in surf shape, do the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, get three stars on all levels of Angry Birds, including Space, and a dog. Rung Nitipavachon is doing great and hanging out in beautiful Lyon, France. “There are many wonderful things about living here, but there are also some challenges about it, too. I do miss North America in many ways and would love to come back for a visit in the near future.”
Class of 1991 Torsie Judkins torsiejudkins@gmail.com
Doug Dicconson is still expanding his worldwide media consulting practice with clients in Shanghai, New York, London and Italy. “My wife, Kimberly, and I had our first child, Parker Douglas Dicconson, in December of 2011. I’m proud to say that Torsie Judkins will be his
godfather.” Doug sees his sister, Edith Dicconson ’89, as often as possible in NYC. He and Kimberly are currently on a three-week family trip going from Liza Dicconson ’78 in Malibu, Calif., to John Dicconson ’76 in Monterey, Calif., then up to visit his mother and father in Lake Tahoe. “It’s been amazing to introduce Parker to the entire family.” Jeremy Durack moved to New York City this past winter and is living on the Upper East Side. He is working as an interventional radiologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Married, no kids, living the dream! Christy Sporleder Rosas has been working at Town of Cary PRCR for two years now. “I am doing the design work for existing parks and greenway maintenance. Roland travels to China with Lenovo 12 weeks/ year, so this is a fantastic fit with two young boys: Logan (age eight) and Lucas (age four).” Julie Sporleder Pellom now has two boys. Keith is a year old and John will be four in August. We met Christy Rosas and her family in Williamsburg, Va., in April and took the kids to Busch Gardens and all the historical sites. Virginia Hall got a new puppy (Millie, a yellow lab ... sad to see Maddy leave us in December) and daughter Allison is getting ready to finish her first year of CONTINUED ON PAGE 39
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JOHN CRUMBLISS ’90
Lobbying in the Nation’s Capital By Tim McKenna, Associate Director of Alumni Affairs
Crumbliss LEFT: John Crumbliss ’90 and one of his many catches from a recent fishing trip in Oregon.
W
orking in Washington,
forget. As he tells it, “During my
expansive client portfolio that
the first team from App State
D.C., as a lobbyist for the last
first week on the job, my boss
includes technology companies
that went to NCAA Division I
12 years, John Crumbliss ’90
came to me and said, ‘I have a
as well as institutions in the
nationals in cross-country, and
has seen and been a part of a lot
job for you to do.’ I was pumped.
higher education and health
we competed against and beat
of big decisions. He thought it
My first big job was to fly to
care spheres. As the lead on
most of the schools there that
would take much longer to get
Boston, be picked up by a private
a diverse range of issues, he
were representing the ACC and
into this line of work, but after
driver, head off to a place that
has devised and implemented
SEC. It was an exciting time for
finishing
I thought was
strategies that have resulted
me and my teammates.” John
As the lead on a diverse range
a big law firm,
in policy changes and federal
still enjoys running and in fact,
school in the
of issues, he has devised and
told to pick up
support for the organizations
last year, he and two other guys
TransAtlantic
implemented strategies that
a package at the
represented, including
(including Miles Hall ’91) ran a
Masters
have resulted in policy changes
building, only
significant funding for research
200-mile relay in California. The
program
and federal support for the
to my surprise,
programs and facility expansion.
race ended up in Napa Valley.
at Duke
organizations represented,
it was a jeweler.
John has worked extensively with
Talk about a long run for a drink,
I was sent up
the U.S. House and Senate, as
but John said it was worth every
for research programs and
there to pick up
well as the federal agencies and
ounce of energy he exuded.
facility expansion.
a diamond ring
the White House.
graduate
University, UNC-Chapel Hill, the
including significant funding
University
for my boss’s
John attended
John and his wife, Blakeslee, welcomed a son, Owen Potter,
of Paris-Sorbonne and the
girlfriend. Talk about finding
undergraduate school at Colgate
to the world on May 17. Owen
University of Bath, UK, with a
out where you stood on the
University for two years and
weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces
degree in international affairs, he
food chain.” That didn’t deter
then transferred to Appalachian
and was 22 inches long. Golf
was fortunate enough to land a
John from staying in this line of
State where he graduated with a
and fishing are two things that
position with one of the biggest
work, and for the last eight years
degree in history. While at App
John really enjoys doing in his
lobbying firms in the city.
he has worked at Cornerstone
State, John was a member of
free time, but he thinks those will
Government Affairs.
the school’s track and cross-
have to take a back seat to the
country teams. “We were
joys of fatherhood.
His first experience in the work world is one he will never 38
John has represented an
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kindergarten at DA (in the same class as Jimbo Huckabee’s son and Katie Moylan Little ’90’s son!). Daughter Catherine will be enrolling in Preschool next year. Virginia teaches fifth grade at DA and she’ll be teaching Laura Horton Virkler’s daughter next year! What? Adam Ravin has two kids, a wife and is a plastic surgeon living in Davidson. He’s still handsome and an all-round great guy. Paul Rockwell took a job as an R&D chef at Diversified Foods and Seasonings. He is buying a new house and still enjoys bowling and eating honey baked ham in his free time. John Caserta has been hired as a full-time faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design: “I’ve been a critic in the graphic design department since 2006, but will be joining the nation’s top art school as an assistant professor. I continue to run The Design Office, a work and project space in downtown Providence.” Allison McWilliams returned to her alma mater, Wake Forest University, in June 2010 after finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Georgia. Allison is the director of mentoring and professional development at Wake Forest, and loves that she gets to wake up every day thinking about how the university is growing and developing the students. Allison also serves on the boards of the Forsyth County Arts Council’s Young Professionals group and the United Way Women’s Leadership Council. In her spare time, she is loving reconnecting with Clint Acrey, Jason Lang and Kathy Oakes, all of whom live in Winston-Salem, and getting back over to Durham to see her family and old DA friends! Laura Horton Virkler reports that “our youngest, Henry (5) starts DA in the fall so we will now have all three kids at DA (Ella will be in fifth in the fall and Sumner will
A L U M N I
DA Fall Alumni Weekend
Oct. 12 & 13, 2012 be in second time with Spread the word. grade – can’t alumni in the Register at www.da.org/alumni believe I have NYC area such one going to the as Tyler ’92, Middle School Cam ’90 and campus!). I’m on the Board Bryson Brodie ’96, Alycia ’94 of Trustees at DA and on the and Jonathan Levy ’96, Doug Search Committee for our new Dicconson, Johnny Rosenthal headmaster so my days seem to be ’90, Hilary Carson ’92, Charlie spent back on campus. The place Shipman ’92 and Payman sure doesn’t look anywhere near Vakil-Zadeh ’92. the same as when we were there – the new Learning Commons at the Upper School is awesome and a great place to hang out, Bev Foulks study, buy snacks and go to the bevfoulks@gmail.com library – a major improvement over upstairs in the gym where we Happy Year of the Dragon – for used to hang out. And speaking those of us born in 1976, this is our of the gym, it now consists of year! The Class of ’94 has certainly only steel beams and a roof – the been keeping busy between careers new gym is under construction and family. Andrea McAlister and everyone needs to come back Fegley moved with her husband in the fall of 2013 to check out Matt to San Francisco last July, the results. Between obligations where she started a new job with at DA and our kids, I stay busy Delta Dental as senior counsel for running our farm – 5 new calves governmental affairs, focusing on on the ground, 40 new chicks in health care reform. So far they the hen house and 13 horses in really love the Bay area. Ward the barn make for interesting days! Horton is still living in Fairfield, Drayton and I love our life here in Conn., and working out of New Hillsborough!” Lee Sullivan and York City or wherever his career his wife Lorraine had their second takes him. He’s back on stage for daughter Louise Ruby Sullivan the first time in a while at The on March 27. “We’re still living Bleeker Street Theater doing in London, our older daughter a world premiere of a TennesLucille is turning 4, my wife is see Williams play called In Masks working as a media consultant, Outrageous and Austere. The seven and I’ve been busy in the past shows a week schedule has been an year working on the digital effects adjustment, and he cherishes the for John Carter as well as Mirror, limited time he gets with his kids Mirror and the upcoming remake Grace (6 1/2) and William (almost of Total Recall.” As for me, this 3). Ben Swain is living in DurSeptember will be the start of ham with his wife, Jen, and their my fourth year in New York as two boys Wesley (3) and Shaffer the director of financial aid and (1), and they’re all doing great. assistant director of admissions at He is still working at the AICPA Rye Country Day School. I love managing organizational strategy having the opportunity to help within the technology team, which families that otherwise couldn’t has recently gone international. On afford an independent school. My the side, Ben has also done some twin daughters turned 1 in April, sports media work and has been and they are growing up quickly. credentialed to cover some Duke I have been able to keep the DA and North Carolina basketball connection strong by spending games. He was able to cover the
Class of 1994
ABOVE: Jonathan, son of Jonathan Evans ’94
second and third rounds of the NCAA tournament in Greensboro on press row. He says it was good to dust off the old Green & White skills! Sean Bilsborrow and his wife, Audrey, are living in Durham, where they enjoy raising their two kids (Jet, age 5; and Sasha, age 4). By day he directs sales for ASMALLWORLD, an international online community; by afternoon – at least in the spring – he is still coaching the DA varsity boys tennis team, 11 years running now! By night, he says he is a dad trying to recover from exhaustion! Jonathan Evans had a little boy on May 28 last year and has been adjusting to his promotion to parenthood. Elizabeth Conner Jones is expecting her fourth child in early September, a little boy who will be joining sister Ruby Jane (14 months), brother Tucker (5 years) and sister Delainey (10 years). She stays home most of the day loving on her kiddos (and homeschooling too!), but she still teaches ballet, is a birth, newborn and child photographer (Ruby Laine Photography), and a homebirth advocate as well. Molly Williams Pugh and her husband Bill live in Alexandria, Va., where she is teaching English at the Episcopal High School. It’s a boarding school, so she also lives in the
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freshman girls’ dorm and is the dorm head and academic dean for the ninth-grade class. They have a 2-year-old daughter, Meredith, and they see Grace Barada Bell and Omar Bell ’93 frequently because they live about a half-mile from one another. Their son, Aidan, plays with Meredith while the adults sit around enjoying adult beverages and laughing at their antics. Betsy Reves Sidebottom lives in Charleston, S.C., with her husband, twin baby girls (Ella and Reves) and two dogs. She works part-time as a Web analyst at the Medical University of South Carolina. Betsy said she’d love to hear from DA alumni visiting Charleston, and that it has been fun to reconnect with numerous DA alumni on Facebook! I still teach Asian religions at UNCWilmington and love living minutes away from Wrightsville Beach. Last year I married a native of Charlotte, Michael McGuire, and our daughter, Haley Lynn, was born on February 28. According to Chinese tradition, being born at the beginning of this Chinese New Year – at the “head of the dragon” – is considered especially auspicious. I will consider myself fortunate the day she decides to sleep through the night!
Class of 1995
Martha Rundles Palmer Marthapalmer76@yahoo.com In baby news, Lindsay Couch Kilgore and her husband had a baby girl – Allison Victoria Kilgore – on August 2. Allison is now 9 months old, and I can attest from Lindsay’s Facebook 40
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Anna and Connor, children of Kristin Keagy Hodgson ’97 • Allison Victoria, daughter of Lindsay Couch Kilgore ’95 • Hawken, son of Erin Wilhelm-Hilkey Tate ’97 • Becca and Owen, children of Emily Herbert ’95 • Callie and Blake, children of Aga Worniallo Chenfu ’96
updates that she is absolutely adorable! Lyle Ross’s daughter Lucile Virginia Ross arrived at 10:45 a.m. on April 30 at a maternity hospital in San Francisco. She weighs almost 7 pounds and looks somewhat like her big sister. Also last summer, Elizabeth Richey Thompson and her husband, Bennett, welcomed their second child, a daughter named Maclean “Lane” Grace Thompson, in June 2011. They live in Denver, where Elizabeth has been working as an adjunct studio professor in the master of architecture program at University of ColoradoDenver. Caroline Herbert is also enjoying a new little bundle of joy – Becca Rose HerbertReader – who was born March
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
6. Caroline writes, “Her big brother, Owen, loves his little sister and is having fun showing her everything. We are all getting used to being a family of four and enjoying this little girl who is growing like a weed.” Liz Kay is still teaching at Suffield Academy and coaching basketball at Coventry High School. She has exciting news: “Jeremy proposed to me on Valentine’s Day right before I had to coach a game – it didn’t make it easy to coach, that’s for sure! I’m thrilled beyond words. He’s so great to me, and I feel so blessed to be marrying him!” They will be married on July 13, 2013, in Vermont. Raphael McNeill is also coaching, beginning his second year as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Chesapeake
College in Wye Mills, Md. As for me [Martha Rundles Palmer], my husband, Steve, and I are living in Connecticut with our daughter, Caroline, who is almost 2 and talking up a storm. She’s keeping us very busy and we are having a ball! Looking forward to your news in the upcoming year!
Class of 1996
William vonReichbauer William@williamvonr.com Hello all! Here is the news from the class of 1996. Heather Foulks Kolakowski writes, “I am doing well here in the Mid Hudson Valley in NY. I am now an assistant professor at The Culinary Institute of America. After four
97 Class of 1997 Reunion
years of teaching, I still love my job! I am currently midway through an MBA program through Empire State College, and hope to finish that by fall of 2013. Lucky for me, I get to go to Italy in June for three weeks for work, traveling all over the country while chaperoning 26 of the upperclassmen. Hope I don’t have to bail anyone out of an Italian jail, as my Italian is non-existent. Que sera!” Danielle Grant Parkinson writes, “My family and I are now living in Frisco, Texas. We just relocated here two months ago for my new role in the legal department at Heartland Payment Systems. I primarily negotiate major contracts, but I have already had exposure to some new areas of the law. My daughter, Olivia, is 12 and is in the seventh grade, and my son Carter is 14 months and so hasn’t started school yet. I hope that everyone in the Durham Academy family is well and you all are in my thoughts and prayers!” Eric Haber is currently living in San Francisco and works for George Lucas’ Lucasfilm as an associate project manager for the information systems department. He has been with Lucas for almost seven years. Drew Sharma lives in Newton, Mass., with his wife and their two Bernese mountain dogs. He is spending a lot of time traveling and working on his e-commerce companies, which include Cookies. com, PartySupplies.com and PrinterInk.com. Amanda Teer Lloyd writes, “We have had a pretty big year. We had our third child in October, a boy named Truett. He joins our 4-year-old daughter Reagan and 2 1/2-yearold son Cooper. Yes, we are insane, but it’s so worth it. We also opened our third USA Flooring store now in Durham, Raleigh and Fayetteville! DA alums will receive a discount on flooring, just mention you went to school with me!” Miriam Varner Walsh writes, “We are in the process, as
DA Fall Alumni Weekend
Oct. 12 & 13, 2012 we speak, of surprise, I was Spread the word. moving to a reminded that Register at www.da.org/alumni farmhouse on our 15-year nine acres of land reunion is in Etowah, N.C. coming up this I am working as the senior staff October. Where did the time accountant at Kanuga Conferences, go? Anyway, read on to find out Inc. while my husband, Joshua, what’s happening with a few of studies to be a paramedic. Our our classmates. Patrick Hale’s three-year-old son Declan is daughter Jayne is turning 2 in a monster, in all the good and April and he and wife Kati are bad three-year-old ways!” Aga expecting their second little girl in Worniallo Chenfu spent the last June! They are living in Charlotte year working at Edelman PR in and Patrick will be finishing up NYC. She also completed two his MBA this summer. Congrats half marathons but is still working on both accounts, Patrick! up the guts for the full. She and Meghan Hansing MacNabb is her husband, Dennis, are living working in investment banking in Jersey City and welcomed in downtown Raleigh and she their second daughter, Blake, in and her husband live in Garner. February. They are thrilled to have Meghan’s stepdaughter, Zoe, will a healthy, happy family! As for be 13 in August, and their baby me, William vonReichbauer, I girl, Olivia, turned 1 in April. continue to stay busy performing Needless to say, life is busy! This throughout the southeast with summer will be baby Olivia’s first two Winston-Salem-based bands, trip to their camp in Canada for The Bo-Stevens and The Darnell the MacNabb’s annual fishing Woodies, and I frequently sit in trip. A full week with a baby, with several other groups. In April, no electricity and no running The Darnell Woodies released a water ... should provide some second album, “Dancing On Your interesting memories (www. Grave,” and The Bo-Stevens hope BreezyPointCamp.com)! Hilary to release a fourth album by year’s Witzleben is happy to report end. This past fall, I was a teaching that after four years of dating, artist and cast member of the Open she and Carson Taylor are Dream Ensemble, an outreach engaged! They are very excited program through the Kenan to celebrate their wedding on Institute for the Arts that presents September 8 in Telluride, Colo., educational theater and conducts where they have lived for the residencies at elementary schools past two-and-a-half years! One throughout the state, teaching the of our most distant classmates, science curriculum through the Brooke Staton, reports that all arts. I have been accepted into is well in Indonesia. The 2012the group for a second season, 13 school year will be her third beginning in August. Until next there and she is enjoying her job time, best wishes for a wonderful tremendously. Brooke recently year! switched grade levels and is now teaching kindergarten, which she loves. She’s also able to take advantage of amazing travel Kadi Thompson opportunities in Asia and has kadithompson@gmail.com loved seeing so many new places. Sara Mayes Kaplan is still in It’s hard to believe another year Franklin, Tenn., at home with has gone by ... and to my utter the kids. Josh is 3 1/2 now and
Class of 1997
Grace just turned 1 in January. Kristin Keagy Hodgson and her husband just had their second child, Anna, on March 5. She is doing really well, and their 3-yearold, Connor, is loving being a big brother. Kristin is working part-time as a psychologist, but mostly staying home with the kids. John Sheffield and wife Krista are pregnant with their second child and are happy to report that everything is progressing perfectly. Their son is now 2 1/2 and doing great. After six years in Phoenix, Kenny Dike just moved to Denver. He is working for the University of Colorado-Boulder athletic department and is happy that he no longer has to deal with 117-degree summers. Julianna Hawkins Gieser and husband Jim are entering their third year in Bloomington, Ind., where Jim is finishing doctoral work in higher education and student affairs at Indiana University. They like being Hoosiers but wouldn’t mind moving south! Jim is currently looking for a position at a college/ university. They have a 1 1/2year-old daughter, Gemma, and baby number two is due in early November. Andy Crawford and his wife are proud new parents to a baby boy, William. Ashley Horton Freedman continues to live in NYC with her husband, daughter Logan (2 1/2) and son Hunter (1 1/2). She and her family hope to head back south, specifically N.C., in the next year or so. I, Kadi Thompson, am still at Victoria’s Secret, but after five years in NYC, I have finally decided to make my way back to San Francisco to be closer to family ... and enjoy the West Coast lifestyle. If you’re ever out that way, give me a shout! And please update your email address at da.org/alumni so that I can track you down for next year’s class notes! CONTINUED ON PAGE 43
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Fox BETSY FOX ’98
Q & A with Betsy Fox, Convention 2012 Deputy Events Manager, Democratic National Convention Host Committee By Tim McKenna, Associate Director of Alumni Affairs
Please tell us about life after you graduated from DA:
investigating job opportunities outside of Charlotte and she
I graduated from University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in
asked me if there was ANYTHING she could do to keep me here.
communication and after graduation moved back to Chapel Hill for
I jokingly told her, “Yeah, I’ll stay if I can get a job doing events for
a hit of home after being so far away for school. I took a job doing
the Democratic National Convention!”, knowing full well that the
marketing and promotions with WCHL 1360 AM radio in Chapel Hill
planning team was full. But she encouraged me to apply and the
and then moved to Chicago for a quick stint at an ad agency. In 2004,
next thing I knew I was a part of the team. To be able to work for an
I moved back to North Carolina and took a job with Wachovia, now
organization that I really believe in has been wonderfully different
Wells Fargo, as a senior event planner and was there for eight years
than most of my other roles.
before leaving in January for the opportunity with the host committee for the Democratic National Convention.
What have been a couple cool things that you have experienced so far on the job? The most significant event I’ve been involved in so
How did you get interested in event planning? Growing up in my
far has been a fundraiser here in Charlotte with first lady Michelle
family’s store, Julian’s on Franklin Street, introduced me to event
Obama as our keynote speaker with a performance by James Taylor.
planning very early on. My mom and I would dream up these very
I have an unhealthy obsession with the Secret Service, so to get to
unique customer events in the back room of the store after school —
work with them on even the simplest things — you know, where she
I spent almost every afternoon after school there — and we always
stands on the stage or how she enters and exits the room — was
wanted to come up with the next coolest thing, whether it was an
thrilling for me. Mrs. Obama literally changes the air in the room
invitation inside a mini wine bottle or cupcakes with tiny bowties on
when she enters it — she is incredibly inspiring and warm. Working
top of them — whatever it is was, we wanted our events at Julian’s to be
on all the pieces of the puzzle for that event was just a taste of what’s
unique and get our customers talking.
to come in September for the actual convention.
Tell us about your work experiences in this field.
What will the future hold after the convention? Probably a five-day
With my work in the financial industry, I have gotten to do some
nap! But besides that, we’ll see — I might need to distribute my
amazing things and been lucky enough to have some adventurous
résumé through the next DA magazine! My passion is events, so I’d
travels under my belt. We’ve done events across the United States at
love for this opportunity to be a stepping stone for another unique
some of the most fabulous properties. I have met some incredible
position in that field. I feel sure I’ll end up in a good place, whether
people — Colin Powell, Steve Forbes, Itzak Perlman, Phil Mickelson —
it’s in North Carolina or in another part of the world.
to name a few. And I have worked on some awesome events — the Wells Fargo Championship, the U.S. Open for golf and tennis tournaments,
What are some of your personal interests away from the work
the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting — and I’ve loved it all. Just
place? I obviously love to travel – whether it’s to Chapel Hill to see
getting to be behind the scenes and traveling and trying to find the next
my family and helping to get ready to celebrate my brother Bart
best experience for clients has been really fun to search out.
Fox’s (Class of 2002) upcoming wedding in December or to the West Coast to see my friends from Boulder. Cheese is also a major
How did this job with the Democratic Convention come about? I
interest. Aside from that, I love to explore new cities and restaurants,
have my best friend Molly Shaw (Class of ’98) to thank. I had been
go to concerts and, of course, cheer for my Tar Heels!
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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT: Lily, daughter of Sarah Harlow Auerbach ’98 • Ryan and Erin, children of Kristin Weinhold Weaver ’99 • Lacey, daughter of Whitney Shenkman Ellis ’98 • Lucy, daughter of Alice Toher Doyal ’98
Class of 1999 Nina Jacobi Nina.jacobi@gmail.com
It’s been great to hear from so many of you this year! In May 2011, Rebecca Hylander Johnson was married to Mike Johnson on their farm in southwestern Virginia. They currently tend to some 750 acres and 400 head of cattle there. Kristin Weinhold Weaver and her family welcomed a new addition last fall: Erin Rylynn Weaver was born on September 23. Kristin’s son Ryan is enjoying his new role as a big brother. It has been a busy year for Catherine Ward, who graduated with a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cal Tech in June 2011, moved back to North Carolina and bought a house in northeastern Chatham County, and most importantly, had a baby! Lindsey Ward Carpenter was born on Oct. 18
development in North Carolina, and expects to continue his work with the state this summer. Jason Sholtz is also in Durham, where he owns the James Joyce Irish at 9 pounds, 10 ounces. Before Pub and Alivia’s Durham Bistro. welcoming Lindsey into the world, He is currently working on a Catherine and her husband traveled third project in the building to the Galapagos, where they saw that used to be Anotherthyme; all the iconic wildlife from blueit will be downtown Durham’s footed boobies to giant tortoises. first rooftop bar and restaurant. They even had the chance to Besides playing on local basketball, snorkel with sharks and baby sea softball and rugby teams, Sholtz is lions. Amanda Huber has been also currently on the DA Alumni working independently as a graphic Board. He reports that things are designer for the past two years. She going in a great direction with specializes in integrated branding alumni initiatives, and the addition and user-friendly web design, but of Tim McKenna as associate would leap at the opportunity to alumni director has added a nice design a book. Aside from design spark of energy. Sholtz recently work, she is looking forward went on vacation with Mike to marrying her longtime beau, Dolan in New Orleans and spent Howie, in Brooklyn this summer. most of his time trying to keep Amanda also enjoys seeing Erin Mike out of trouble. Sholtz says he Lennox perform her comedy sees Dolan far too much, however show in New York. Daniel that might change soon. Mike is Raimi is finishing up a master’s graduating from Duke Business degree in public policy at Duke’s School in May, and will be Sanford School. He has been moving to Iowa in July to begin a working on a study with the N.C. leadership rotational program with Department of Environment and John Deere. Amar Goli is living Natural Resources on shale gas on the beach in Santa Monica and
A L U M N I
working in commercial real estate in Los Angeles. He still works on investment sales of retail and office buildings, but since those have been slow with the economy, he is now doing a lot of commercial leasing for retail centers and office buildings in Beverly Hills, Hollywood and the West Side (Santa Monica, Venice and West LA). Amar is also pursuing his M.B.A. part-time at Pepperdine University and will complete the program in 2013. He lives with his dog, Cameron (yes, named after the Duke basketball stadium), and is loving California, though he still gets back to New York and N.C. to visit family and friends. As for me, I am finishing up my M.B.A. this spring and will be moving to Washington, D.C., to work in consulting. I’m looking forward to starting a new chapter. Please let me know if you come through D.C. – and keep in touch!
Class of 2001
Allison Kirkland Amelia Ashton Allison.kirkland@gmail.com Amelia.ashton@gmail.com It is hard to believe that yet another year has passed! Last year, we could tell you that we were headed for the big 1-0, but now, it seems, our next big milestone will be the 15or even 20-year reunion. Wow. It continues to be a great pleasure to hear about the varied and fantastic ways that DA alumni are enriching their world and their own lives, and, as usual, this year was full of lots of goodies. So, without further ado, we are proud to present the DA Class of 2001! Several former DA-ers are holding down the proverbial fort in North Carolina. Everett Anderson and his wife, Candace, moved into a new house in Durham in early 2012, and he currently serves on the DA Alumni Board. He continues to work with CONTINUED ON PAGE 45
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Kirkland Big City Writes
Along with my studies, I worked at my previous employer, Symphony
By Allison Kirkland ’01
as a free podcast on iTunes — go download it now!), and the Thalia
Space, a performing arts space on the Upper West Side, which showcases everything from literary events to classical music concerts. My role included helping with its two primary literary series: Selected Shorts, featuring actors reading well-known short stories (available Book Club, a series of conversations with authors.
M
y last year in the
Allison Kirkland ’01
In the spring, I volunteered at the PEN American International
city has been particularly
World Voices Festival, a literary festival in New York founded in
exciting. Though I’ve
2005. Highlights included working with writer Margaret Atwood
been in Manhattan for
and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan. This summer I’ve
over six years now, I see a
been awarded a scholarship to attend a weeklong workshop at the
completely different version of NYC as a student. Last fall, I began a
Normal Mailer Writer’s Colony in Cape Cod, where I’ll be focusing
two-year Master of Fine Arts program at the New School studying
on the nonfiction genre and hopefully eating lots of seafood!
creative nonfiction, focusing on personal essay and cultural criticism. I’ve studied with some wonderful professors. Among
Seeing other DA alumni in the city is always a joy. This year we
them are Philip Lopate, the Brooklyn-born essayist and poet, and
had such a great turnout at the NYC alumni event. I saw people
Greil Marcus, an original music critic for Rolling Stone magazine and
networking, catching up with old friends and reminiscing. I’ve enjoyed
Costanzo author of several critically acclaimed essay collections. The New
being involved in these alumni events, as well as compiling the yearly
School also hosts an impressive list of visiting lecturers, which we
classnotes entries for the Class of 2001, because it’s such a great way
are required to attend as part of our curriculum.
to stay connected to people who are doing amazing things.
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo ’00 brings his talents to N.C.
A
s a sixth-grader, Anthony
season, and this January he stepped
Opera, Cary Cross Currents
University,
in for Met superstar David Daniels
Chamber Music Festival and
where he
when he became ill. As for where
Cary Visual Art present “An
was awarded
he fits in the big picture, a program
Evening of Arias” at 8 p.m. at
the Lewis
guide for the Metropolitan Opera
the Cary Arts Center. Ticket
Sudler Prize
Anthony Costanzo ’00
lists Costanzo’s name between David information is available at
for extraordinary achievement in
Daniels and Placido Domingo for a
the arts. He received his master
carycrosscurrentsfestival.com.
Roth Costanzo ’00 sang the
January 21 live radio broadcast of
title role in Joseph and the Amazing
The Enchanted Island. This summer,
professionally at age 11, and
School of Music and was awarded
Technicolor Dreamcoat when the
Triangle audiences can hear the
he left Durham Academy for
the Hugh Ross Award for a singer
Middle School’s Taylor Hall opened
countertenor perform in person.
New York in the late 1990s. He
of unusual promise. He has
graduated magna cum laude and
appeared in opera, concert, recital,
Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton
film and on Broadway.
in 1998. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2010-2011 44
Costanzo will be featured August 10 when North Carolina
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
Costanzo began performing
of music degree from Manhattan
02
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Class of 2002 Reunion
DA Fall Alumni Weekend Oct. 12 & 13, 2012
Spread the word. Register at www.da.org/alumni
A L U M N I
CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: Stella and Justice, children of Katye Proctor Freelon ’03 • Peter, son of Emily Toher Merryweather ’00 • Derek and Libby, children of Elizabeth Stevens Detring ’02
Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. She has offered Allison a tour sometime, which sounds pretty awesome. Allison also hangs out with Caroline Mage, who is in the city as well and loving her job as a research analyst with MDRC, and Maggie McPherson, who is a lawyer with Cahill, Gordon and Reindel. Brendan Bradley has deserted the Manhattanites for the sunnier Los Angeles weather, and is busy as usual performing and directing. Keep your eye out for this guy. A feature film titled “Amy Alyons Fans,” which he wrote and starred his father at Raymond James & attorney development coordinator, in, won Best Comedy at the New Associates, which he enjoys! Jessica is Gudrun Jorgenson Ellsworth. York International Film Festival. Brendan made his television debut Streck Ortolano will be leaving Gudrun married John “Jay” a few months ago on Disney’s her job as a media assistant at Frank Ellsworth in March in Charlotte, “Wizards of Waverly Place” and Porter Graham Elementary to N.C., and they now live in pursue her master’s at the UNC Alexandria, Va. Soon to be joining MTV’s “Death Valley.” Michelle Boaz wrote to us from far away School of Information and Library at the same law firm (smaller Bamberg, Germany, where she Science program this fall. Molly world!) as an associate is Amelia has been teaching business English Kane Frommer is finishing her Ashton. Amelia is enjoying at the University of Bamberg M.Ed. in school counseling at clerking and getting to know since graduating last spring with UNC-Chapel Hill and will be “the District,” which she often her master’s in German from the settling into a new house with her explores together with Anne University of South Carolina. husband this summer. Slightly to Lacy Gialanella. Just a hop, skip Michelle has recently moved into a the north, in our nation’s capital, and a jump up the highway in new apartment in Hallstadt, a few Mike Munson reports that, having Baltimore is Marion Penning, minutes away from Bamberg. She graduated from William and Mary who works as a teacher – her is an avid runner, and her goal is to School of Law and passing the subjects are biology, archaeology North Carolina Bar Exam, he will and botany – and as a coach – track run a full marathon before her 30th soon be admitted to practice law and rowing. This summer she plans birthday in November. We wish in the District of Columbia as well. to bike across Prince Edward Island her all the best of luck, however you say “good luck” in German! He is living and working in D.C. and hopefully race at the U.S. And good luck to all of you, as as a contract attorney for Williams Rowing Club Nationals. Farther and Connolly. At the same law north, Mary Blair recently started well, and best wishes for a happy and healthy year ahead. firm (small world!), working as an a postdoctoral fellowship at the
Class of 2003 Andrea Fjeld andreafjeld@gmail.com
Last night, while hanging out with other DA alumni, I realized that just 10 years ago I had just begun my college search. It’s strange to think that since then I graduated from the University of Chicago ’07, found a job in big, bad, New York City, was promoted to associate editor and moved to Brooklyn with my boyfriend. And I remember being an angst-y, insecure 17-yearold so well! My classmates have similar success stories. Emily Luger, UNC-Chapel Hill ’07, will be celebrating her five-year anniversary with the city this month and is starting her fourth year living in Brooklyn. She works at Federated Media Publishing as a senior program manager for websites like American Express OPEN Forum, L’Oréal-Makeup. com and FedEx WeCommerce. In other exciting news, Laura is also the godmother to Lizzy Smith’s beautiful daughter, Isabel. After a stint in North Carolina, Kirk Kirkland is back in New York working as an associate at Morgan Stanley. I was lucky enough to see him and his sister, Allison ’01, last night. Meanwhile, Patrick Cross is jet-setting around the world! He’s the tour manager of Who’s Bad (a Michael Jackson-cover band) and handles transportation, venues, payroll ... the list continues. This year, they hit South America for the first time, stopping off in Colombia, Peru and Brazil. As if that weren’t a full-time job in itself, Patrick recently received a wonderful scholarship to the law school at University of Colorado
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(although he’s still waiting to hear back from UNC, he says). Lastly, congratulations to Lindsay Michel, who married Garver Moore of Atlanta on a surprisingly snowy October evening. The two were wed in Alexandria, Va., and now live in Washington, D.C. Garver is a computer engineer and business intelligence consultant. Last May, Lindsay joined PATH, a leading global health organization where she works in health communications creating advocacy materials that inform and inspire policymakers to support health programs worldwide. Next year she will graduate from George Washington University with a master of public health in health policy. Again, it’s been a busy year for 2007. Can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store.
Class of 2004
Stephen Barlow Barlow.stephen@gmail.com Lauren Sapikowski is working toward a Ph.D. in humanities and cultural studies at the London Consortium. Her research focuses on the narrative and authenticity in responding to los desaparacedos. This year, she will present her research on mourning and memorialization at conferences in Cambridge and York. She has also bought her first home. In September 2011, Emerich Gutter married Cate Walker, his girlfriend of four years, in Asheville. Emerich has accepted a job at DLA Piper LLP’s Chicago offices. He will graduate from Boston University School of Law in May and will move to Chicago to study for the Illinois bar. Brad Waffa recently completed his second year of veterinary school at N.C. State, where he is the student representative for both the North American Veterinary Conference and pharmaceutical innovator, Merial. He is the lead 46
author on a case study that was recently accepted to the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. His two books – on the anatomy of the ball python and the bearded dragon, respectively – are slated for publication this summer. In July, Brad will travel to Brazil with two other veterinary students to charter a new global partnership between the veterinary colleges at N.C. State and the University of São Paulo. He will be working at Instituto Butantan, the largest biomedical research and anti-venom production facility in Latin America, learning to manage a collection of over 1,000 venomous snakes and invertebrates. Brad credits his vet school survival almost exclusively to the study guides and review sessions organized by his insomniac classmate and fellow DA alum Bethany Walters ’05. According to Brad, “Yes, she still runs to class.” Ken Greenleaf recently finished working on the pilot for “elemeNtarY,” an upcoming CBS series, in New York. He will soon begin working on the Showtime series “Homeland” in Charlotte. Rena Gower married Greg Stein in October. They met as undergraduates at Cornell University. Rena has her M.S.W. and now works in development at RxArt, a nonprofit arts organization in Manhattan. Stephen Thompson moved from northern Virginia to Florida in September, taking a job in the Cape Canaveral area. He reports, “Work is going well so far, and I get the added bonus of being able to view rocket launches at the Cape from the office. I certainly can’t complain about the winter weather either.” Caroline Paul graduated from law school at North Carolina Central University, and passed the North Carolina Bar Examination in July 2011. In January she began working as a civil litigation
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
LEFT: From left: Matt Roberts ’04, Courtney Townsend ’04, Emmy Anlyan ’04 and Kelly Teagarden ’04
associate at McAngus, Goudelock and Courie in Raleigh, and she is currently living in Durham. Kari Riggle is living in South Africa, working toward her Ph.D. in global health at the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg. She reports, “I live in Joburg, and am based in Soweto, but work in the middle of nowhere in an unpronounceable province (Mpumalanga) for fieldwork on occasion. Monkeys broke into my house there once, which was enough to convince me they’re just cheeky, slightly more-clever squirrels.” Kari was recently engaged to a South African named Mat, whom she met while traveling in South Africa four years ago. Joshua Kon just moved to Boulder, Colo., with his fiancée. They are both starting new jobs in software development. He is working for a consulting firm and his fiancée will be working at Google. Jennifer Tanaka is graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in May, and will be moving to New York City where she will begin work as an associate at Cravath, Swaine and Moore, LLP. Jennifer is also getting married in May to Andrew Nowobilski.
Class of 2005
Andrew Weinhold Andrew.weinhold@gmail.com Alums from the Class of 2005 have been busy near and far, but it goes without saying that they have kept DA in their thoughts. Below are updates from a few members of this class who wanted to bring old friends up to speed. MK Pope in particular can’t wait to hear what her former classmates are up to. She currently lives in the East Village in New York City and teaches seventh grade writing at a charter school in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Smythe Anderson works in Washington, D.C. – MK’s old home – as press secretary for Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee, so Smythe is surely busy gaining valuable experience in the midst of daily matters on Capitol Hill. Another classmate with some great experiences already under her belt is Jamihlia Johnson, who is in her first year of law school at the University of Missouri. Prior to law school, she worked in Washington, D.C., with the firm Dewey and LeBoeuf, and assisted in a World Bank Arbitration at the International Centre for the Settlement of
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Investment Disputes. Her team represented El Salvador in the case Pac Rim Cayman v. El Salvador. She describes it as “an amazing experience which opened my eyes to international arbitration, which I hope to pursue.” At Mizzou Law, she is on track to obtain a certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution to help meet her career goal. This summer she will be living in St. Louis for the first time and working at the law firm Thompson Coburn. Jamihlia hopes to gain more international experience by studying in London next spring through her law school. Sara Widmark Loeblein works in downtown Durham, making it easy to enjoy time with family and friends – including her seven nieces and nephews! She is working with fellow DA grad Mike Pisetsky ’96 at Mark Properties. Sara and Gray have been married for four years now, and their fondness for travel has taken them on a number of enjoyable trips outside the country. David Hutchings continues to teach Spanish at Stuart Hall boarding school in Staunton, Va., but perhaps his proudest achievement of the past year came as a cross country coach. His girls varsity team won the state championship for their private school league (VACA) in only their second year competing as a team. He recently returned from leading a trip to Madrid and Paris with a group of his students for spring break. It brought back many memories of his eighth grade trip with Señor Glass, and he described it as being “so much fun – possibly the best thing about teaching so far.” Tanyss Knowles has been living in Canada, recently moving to the Yukon after spending five years in Vancouver. In the territory she now calls home, she has a job with an environmental consulting firm working on aboriginal relations and traditional knowledge collection. Her own words can
only begin to describe this unique and amazing experience: “It was exciting to meet many interesting people and travel throughout the North. Being outdoors all summer meant I saw lots of moose, bears and mountain sheep. Luckily, no dangerous encounters! Now I’m working as a youth worker. I run youth programs in Whitehorse and travel to communities to do workshops. In March, I got to be on a team facilitating environmental workshops with youth in the Arctic Circle. We enjoyed bundling up for the -40 C [also -40 F!] weather and watching the northern lights after work. I’m really enjoying my life up here and encourage everyone to come for a visit!” Jeff Speir, who will be returning to school soon, reflected on the past few years, his time at DA and a similar fondness for being outdoors: “After three fantastic years in San Francisco, I will be moving with my cat to Portland, Ore., to study environmental law at Lewis and Clark Law School this fall. I’m returning to my lockerusing, backpack-carrying days thanks in part to my experiences at DA and the exceptional teachers I learned from there. Before my studies begin, I’m planning to camp in as many National Parks as I can and eat a bunch of granola.” Whitney Zimmerman moved from Greenville, S.C., to Munich, Germany, this spring for a three year assignment at BMW’s headquarters. Good luck to everyone in the Class of 2005 over the next year as they deal with the world of wild bears, legal disputes, middle schoolers, politics, new cities, camping and much more!
Class of 2006
Imani Hamilton Imani.hamilton@gmail.com Heather Olden has been living in NYC for the past two years,
working and enjoying all that the big city has to offer. In September, she will be attending the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor to get a master of public health in epidemiology and international health. Until she leaves for school, she has an internship with one of the top epidemiologists in the public health field, identifying the environmental factors that affect the rate of infection and transmission of HIV in New York City. She is excited to embark on this journey in public health and cannot wait to see where it leads her. Andrew Sutton is living and working in Charlotte, and is looking forward to his August transition to a job in private equity. Christine Sailer is starting her third year at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Now that she has finished her classes, she is starting full-time in the hospital; her first, two-month rotation starts May 29! Kyle Sloate has decided to change career paths and is in the process of applying to physician assistant programs. This spring (somehow) she took four prerequisite science courses, volunteered 25 hours a week to get direct care experience and worked full time. This summer she is doing the same. She’s exhausted, but much happier with this goal in mind! It sounds like everyone in the Raleigh-Durham area should go visit Andrew Popio at his job. He recently helped open the new Sugarland bakery in Cameron Village. “It’s a really cool space and we have lots of awesome cupcakes and gelato. Plus we’re getting a full bar in the next couple of weeks!” When Matt Wyzenski submitted his notes, he had just arrived in Port Angeles, Wash., after a 3,000 mile, three-day solo road trip to start a new job. He is loving his life there thus far: “Amazing company, amazing people and I get to design and play with boats all day ... I’m living a
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short ferry ride away from British Columbia, and wake up every morning and see the Olympic Mountains behind Port Angeles.” He’s also looking forward to the spectacular kayaking, hiking and camping in the area. Before this job he was working for a company in Raleigh, designing and building high-end ($20,000) lighting fixtures for rock star clients like Bob Seger. Joining us on the West Coast, Tom Gillespie is headed to graduate school in neuroscience at UC-San Diego and TJ Carstens will be moving to Northern California on June 1 to work in the health care industry. Nick Gallo is the Oklahoma City Thunder’s basketball writer for the team’s website and publications. I’ll add he also recently came to San Francisco for work and got to meet up with Imani Hamilton and Jeffrey Speir ’05 for Duke’s buzzer beater win over Carolina! I, Imani Hamilton, am loving life in California, working as business development and marketing coordinator for an urban design and landscape architecture firm called CMG Landscape Architecture. They are the stars of landscape architecture, working with some of the biggest names in architecture on really interesting urban projects, redesigning streets, plazas and parks. I’m enjoying my work, building relationships with architects and developers and doing all of the background graphic design and marketing materials for it. I’m also helping pursue projects and competitions, writing articles and managing our website. The job changes daily, depending what’s in my inbox. I’m liking it a lot, but definitely wishing I could import friends and family. On that note, please let me know if you’re ever in the Bay Area! Please also let me know if your email address or location has changed! Best to all. CONTINUED ON PAGE 50
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KENDALL BRADLEY ’07
Saving lives even before medical school By Jim Rogalski
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared in Duke Med Alumni News.
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hen Nick Tsipis suddenly was stricken with a crushing headache, dizziness and nausea in Vietnam last summer while volunteering at a sports camp, fellow Duke soccer player and camp volunteer Kendall Bradley ’07 reactively equated his symptoms with a neurological problem — something she admits seemed a bit hasty. Bradley, you see, was fresh off four years in Duke’s CAPE Program — the Collegiate Athletic Pre-Medical Experience — that exposes promising female undergraduate athletes interested in medicine with hands-on experience in the field. Much of her time in CAPE was spent in Duke’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, where she helped to take medical histories and screen patients. She even got to witness brain surgeries up close. “It’s funny, but the first time I got a headache after working in the brain tumor center I thought, ‘Oh my God. I have a brain tumor,’ ” she said laughing. “So with Nick, I told myself, ‘You can’t think it’s neurological because that’s all you see. That’s all you’ve been thinking about for years.’ ” For Tsipis, that was a good thing. Bradley’s instincts helped save his life. Immediate, excruciating pain The two friends, who have known each other since they were freshmen on their respective Duke varsity soccer teams, had been in Vietnam with a humanitarian group coaching soccer and 48
teaching basic academics to children in grades six through nine. On a typical Tuesday morning, that had dawned hot and sunny, Tsipis was lecturing in a classroom when a blast of excruciating pain suddenly shot through his head. The room spun like a dizzying carnival ride. He felt sick and lost balance, catching himself on a chair as he collapsed. “At first I thought I was just dehydrated, but this hit me out of the blue. Clearly something was wrong,” Tsipis related. After dogged insistence from Bradley to camp organizers, she and a camp leader drove Tsipis to the small community hospital in Can Tho about an hour away over rutted dirt roads. He was given an IV and medication to help stop the vomiting. Bradley recalls that “insects were everywhere” inside Tsipis’ room and she constantly brushed them away from his face. Several times in the hallway she noticed rats scurrying about. During Tsipis’ three-day hospital stay, Bradley was frequently on the phone with her mother, Kathryn Andolsek, a professor of Community and Family Medicine at Duke; Chris Woods, a Duke professor of infectious diseases and global health; and David T. Dennis, MD, a global health professor at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore. Woods and Dennis both had traveled to Vietnam in the recent past. Andolsek cleared every procedure and medication with the Vietnamese doctor,
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ABOVE: Kendall Bradley ’07 saved Nick Tsipis’s life when he became ill in Vietnam.
who concluded Tsipis was dehydrated and suffering from a gastrointestinal issue, despite an ultrasound showing no signs of one. Meanwhile, Bradley and Tsipis kept Tsipis’ family apprised via Skype. Tsipis felt that all he needed was rest, and was glad to be released from the hospital, even though the headache continued. “I really thought the headache was from dehydration,” he said. “I had been vomiting for 36 hours.” Bradley wasn’t so convinced. The two noticed that Tsipis’ pupils were uneven. Bradley also observed a weak shuffle in Tsipis’ gait when he walked to the bathroom. “His pupils just didn’t look right so I pulled out my iPhone and used the flashlight to look,” she said. “His pupils were reactive, but I still asked the doctor if it was something we should worry about. I learned in CAPE that uneven pupils and difficulty walking could be signs of a neurological problem.” The doctor said not to worry, that Tsipis was just tired and needed rest. The two friends went back to their hostel, where during the night, things took a turn for the worse.
Tho, where she said, “I fought with them for two-and-a-half-days to get Nick care.” She decided that they go to Ho Chi Mihn City, five hours away, to seek medical care. Tsipis wanted to tough it out in Can Tho, knowing he was scheduled to fly home in just three days and would see a doctor then. Bradley insisted. Over the long and bumpy car ride he deteriorated pretty quickly, according to Bradley. “He was laying down with his head on my lap and his headache was getting worse.” At an international clinic in Ho Chi Mihn City, an Englishspeaking French doctor examined Tsipis and ordered an MRI. The only MRI machine in the city was across town in a derelict hangarlike building. “There were little medical units off to the sides with motorbikes in the middle,” Bradley said. “It was pretty scary.” After Tsipis got the MRI they returned to the clinic and waited nearly four hours for the report. Every hour or so the French doctor asked Tsipis telling questions. “She asked me if there was any history of stroke or blood clots in my family,” he said. “And if his traveler’s insurance covered medical evacuation,” ‘My head was being crushed’ Bradley said. “As soon as she Tsipis didn’t sleep that night mentioned stroke I got very because of a menacing headache worried.” that felt like his head was being “It didn’t really register with crushed. “It was the worst thing I’ve me that I could have had a stroke,” felt in my life,” he said. Tsipis said. “I’m a healthy, athletic Bradley wasn’t keen on Tsipis 22-year-old and there’s no history returning to the hospital in Can of it in my family.”
Bradley Once the doctor confirmed the diagnosis of stroke, Bradley immediately phoned the Duke brain tumor center to discuss Tsipis’ situation with Duke’s acclaimed brain tumor specialist Allan Friedman and noted neurooncologist Henry Friedman (not related), founders of the CAPE program. The doctors wanted to see the MRI, but the clinic had no way to digitize and e-mail it. “So I took a photo of it with my iPhone and e-mailed it to them,” Bradley said. “About 85 percent of his right cerebellum was completely white — a very bad thing.” An occlusion in his right vertebral artery had cut off most of the blood supply to Tsipis’ right cerebellum. When they received the e-mail of the MRI, the doctors Friedman grew concerned and asked to have Tsipis get an MRA image of the vessels in his head and neck. Getting the MRA proved more frightful than the MRI. Bradley describes the hospital with the MRA machine as something out of the Cold War. They entered the dimly lit, dingy, yellowing hallway of the Emergency Department, where to the right she saw a woman lying on a gurney. It appeared the woman had just had surgery. “She was alone and writhing on the table,” Bradley said. “She had drains coming out of her head and one of them was pooling blood on the floor. I immediately turned Nick’s chair around.” But not before he got a look. “It was like something out of a horror movie,” Tsipis said. “It was one of the most terrifying places I’ve ever been.” Later on, back at the clinic, the news got worse. ‘You’ve got to get out of there’ The situation was compounded when Allan
Friedman recommended that Tsipis immediately be put on several medications, “but the doctor wasn’t comfortable with that,” Bradley said. There were two issues the Friedmans were particularly worried about. The first was that if Tsipis went untreated for too long he could have had a second stroke — this one in his basilar artery — that would have been devastating. The second concern was that if significant swelling developed from the initial stroke it could have been fatal. “‘You’ve got to get out of there as soon as possible,’ ” Bradley says the Friedmans told her. Bradley thought about worstcase scenarios and asked one of the Vietnamese doctors what the plan was if Tsipis developed a brain bleed. The doctor told her there was a public hospital in the city that “might be able to deal with it, but it was over crowded and extremely busy and Nick probably wouldn’t get seen,” Bradley said. “So I said, ‘You’re telling me that if he starts to bleed there’s nothing we can do and he’s going to die?’ And she said ‘yes.’ ” The Friedmans began the process of having Tsipis evacuated to Bangkok, Thailand, to be treated by Sith Sathornsumetee, a neuro-oncologist who trained for seven years under the Friedmans at Duke. “Henry was on the phone with senators and everyone up the ladder to Hillary Clinton’s office in the State Department,” Tsipis said. New passports needed to be created because Bradley’s and Tsipis’ were being held in Can Tho. The offices of U.S. Senators Richard Lugar and Tom Daschle were key to getting the new expedited passports. Bradley said Henry Friedman stressed to her the direness of the situation.
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“He told me Nick had around a 70 percent chance of not making it through the night,” Bradley said. “It took me a while to process that. What I could do was keep working to get our passports.” One fear was that a change in altitude pressure during the flight to Bangkok could cause complications. Tsipis, meanwhile, although still in pain, was able to maintain a sense of humor. “He didn’t know the percentages and I wasn’t going to tell him,” Bradley said. “But he was messing with me the whole night, and still acting like Nick. That’s what I told his parents.” The two were medically evacuated around 9:30 a.m. The flight to Thailand went smoothly, and about two hours later Tsipis was delivered safely to Sathornsumetee at Bangkok Hospital. “It’s amazing to me how far around the world Duke reaches,” Bradley said. “It was such a relief to be with ‘Dr. Sith,’ He had a complete team ready when we arrived, and it felt like we were back in an American hospital. Everything was brand-new, and the level of care was fantastic.” Sathornsumetee ran tests, took an angiogram, and administered the blood thinner Coumadin. Tsipis remained in the intensive care unit of Bangkok Hospital for 10 days. Bradley stayed in Bangkok as well. Tsipis did not require surgery. Collateral blood vessels in his head have taken over and now supply the right side of his brain. He suffered no long-term side effects of the stroke. Once in Durham, Tsipis was seen by the Friedmans, kept overnight at Duke Hospital, and released. One month later, he and Bradley started medical school at Duke.
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A heart of gratitude “Without Kendall, I can’t imagine getting out of there alive,” Tsipis said. “Yes, the coaches would have taken me to the hospital in Can Tho, but the doctor there probably would have listened to me when I said I wanted to tough it out. Anything could have happened after that.” So many things fell into place, he said, not the least of which was the fact that Bradley had an international plan on her cell phone, which he did not, and was able to stay in close contact with doctors at Duke, as well as with his family. “I’m extremely thankful she was on this trip, and that she was trained to do neurological exams,” Tsipis said. He’s thankful for Bradley’s tenacity with the physicians in Vietnam, for her ability to function on very little sleep, and to deal with so many issues at once, including his insurance company, all the while comforting him and helping to care for him, rarely leaving his bedside. “There are so many times that things could have gone horribly wrong,” he said. Words aren’t enough to thank her, he said. “What do you say to someone who gives you a second chance at life?” The best way he knows “is to live a worthwhile life,” he said. That means becoming the best doctor he’s capable of, and modeling Bradley’s thoroughness, persistence, and compassion. “She’s going to be an incredible physician,” Tsipis said. Both Bradley and Tsipis currently are undecided about their respective specialties. Bradley is interested in orthopaedics, and Tsipis in oncology, but they both are open to exploring many areas of medicine.
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Class of 2008 Anna Cooperberg Alc2181@columbia.edu
After four years out of DA, the Class of 2008 is moving on up; many of us are graduating college and starting a new chapter. Now scattered across the globe, we’re going to graduate school and getting jobs. In just a year, we’ll be having our first reunion – how time flies! Lauren Bronec spent her senior year at Duke serving as vice president of Kappa Alpha Theta, a member of the senior class council and the tour guide society. Next year she plans to move to D.C. to work as a consultant for Accenture. Alexandra Davidson-Palmer will be graduating from Wake Forest in May with a major in psychology and minor in Spanish. She’ll be going to grad school in the fall at George Mason to pursue an M.A. in applied developmental psychology. Caitlin Burk started her senior year off with a bang by taking a semester abroad in Cairo, Egypt. She has enjoyed her time at Columbia, and is excited to graduate in May with a degree in biology. She is looking forward to returning to North Carolina next year to work at UNC while she applies to medical school. James Jaemin Han is continuing his studies at Purdue University and traveled this year to Las Vegas, Cancun and Punta Cana. He’s enjoying his time at school and recently got a new kitten named Nero. Michael Conners is graduating from Duke in May and moving to Westport, Conn., to work at a hedge fund. He plans to attend law school at the University of Chicago in two or three years. Noah Steege started a research project on ADHD and memory this semester as part of his psychology major. This summer, he’ll be attending a seven-week course at the Ohio Fire Academy 50
07 Class of 2007 Reunion
DA Fall Alumni Weekend
Oct. 12 & 13, 2012 to earn his Marathon, Spread the word. professional NYC half Register at www.da.org/alumni firefighter marathon and certification. Knickerbocker After graduation 60K race with in 2013, he plans to work for the Leukemia and Lymphoma a fire department in the D.C. Society’s Team in Training. metro area. Yates Sikes will Molly Dektar is having the graduate in May from N.C. State time of her life in her final in mechanical engineering and year living at Harvard’s Dudley will pursue a master’s degree House Co-op, a campus hub of this fall. He spent last summer radical activism and homemade working at The Boeing Company sourdough. She has been in Seattle, Wash., on the 787 awarded a Harvard postgraduate Dreamliner, and got engaged this traveling fellowship, so next past Christmas to his girlfriend year she will travel to Norway of three years, Maria Lazzara. to work on a writing project Catherine Donatucci had a about climate change, including wonderful time spending the fall heading to Svalbard in the semester in Florence, and also dead of winter. Samantha traveled around Italy, France, Leder just finished a year being Austria and the Czech Republic. president of her sorority, Alpha She will graduate with a major in Chi Omega, and continues to psychology and minor in criminal enjoy dance, volunteering and justice and Italian studies. After community service. She will graduation, she plans on working graduate in May from UNC for a year or two before going with a B.A. in biology and a to grad school. Ashley Brasier minor in philosophy, politics graduated summa cum laude and economics. She plans to from Duke University and is work for a year, most likely as looking forward to starting as an a legal assistant in Charlotte, associate consultant at Bain and before attending law school. Company this summer. She also John Lindsey is graduating in completed a college counseling May from College of Charleston and admissions internship at The with a business major with a American School in Switzerland. concentration in commercial Nick Livengood served as the real estate development. After student body treasurer at Elon this graduation, he plans to work year, was president of the Student for Lindsey Self Storage Group Alumni Council, an alumni in Durham. Hillary Scott is outreach organization, and served graduating from Connecticut as the constitution and bylaws College and moving to New chair in his fraternity, Pi Kappa York City to start a job with Phi. He is currently narrowing his a natural consumer product decisions for law school, which company doing marketing and he plans to attend in the fall. Wei product development. Brennan Leong is president and captain Vail recently finished her senior of the women’s hockey team at thesis on child nutrition and Barnard, led the team to a firstenergy expenditure in rural place regular season finish and Uganda. She is graduating from was awarded a league Founder’s Harvard in May and will spend Award and League MVP. She next year at the University of is the Bach Society Chamber Cambridge, England, pursuing Orchestra associate concertmaster a master’s degree in public and this year she ran the NYC health. After Cambridge she
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will begin medical school. Si Carpenter will be moving to Los Angeles after graduating from UNC, where he studied screenwriting and drama. This summer, he’ll be working with 3 Arts Entertainment, which co-produces NBC’s “Parks and Recreation.” Rebecca Freedman is graduating with a degree in history and honors in biological basis of behavior from UPenn in May. After a summer trip to Europe and a road trip down the East Coast, she’ll be moving to Atlanta with her boyfriend, where they will both start medical school at Emory in the fall. Nick Drago will graduate from Rochester with a degree in biology and business. He is excited to move to New Jersey, where he will join the pharmaceutical industry working in regulatory affairs for Bayer. Over the past year, Isaac Uhlenberg has been working with the N.C. and Va. dance scene through an organization called KODACHROME. The dance group he is a part of, UNC Kamikazi, received third place at the Prelude Hip Hop Dance Competition. He will graduate over the summer with a B.A. in psychology. Leslie Ogden will move to D.C. after graduating from Tufts to work as a government relations associate at Urban Swirski and Associates. She will assist the bipartisan government relations firm in financial and tax policy legislation and reform. She is extremely excited to realize her dream of working in policy and politics in D.C. This spring, Elsa Ohman worked at the ACLU National Prison Project, which has a goal of protecting prisoners’ rights, and she will be graduating from George Washington in May. Rachel Hodges was club field hockey captain and vice president of the Vanderbilt
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ABOVE LEFT: Ania Oddone ’08, Ashley Brasier ’08 and Michael Conners ’08 posed for a “DA photo” just before their May graduation from Duke University. ABOVE RIGHT: Class of 2008 buddies Zac Allison, Collin Suggs, John Lindsey, Devon Cunningham, Bren Lamont and Ryan O'Connor.
Consulting Club this year, as well as a marketing teaching assistant. This summer she is backpacking Eastern Europe before returning to Nashville to work for Huron Consulting Group as a health care analyst. Erin McLendon has been spending the last semester working at an artist development company in Nashville, as well as continuing to pursue a career in songwriting and performing. She has also become a “professional National Anthem singer” and has sung about 10+ national anthems around Nashville and Durham since her first appearance singing at the Duke basketball home opener against her alma mater, Belmont. Wyche Carr is going into his final year studying textile technology at N.C. State and will be working at the textile labs there over the summer. Hannah Kaiser is in medical school in Odense, Denmark, and has four-and-a-half years left of the six-year program. Lastly, I (Anna Cooperberg) will be graduating from Columbia in May with a degree in comparative literature and society. This past year I served as editor-in-chief of Columbia’s only fashion magazine, Hoot Magazine, and interned at both Teen Vogue and Vogue. This summer, I will intern at Harper’s Bazaar before attending Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism in the fall.
Class of 2009
Worth Newman Collin Burks newj@wharton.upenn.edu Collin.e.burks@dartmouth.edu We can’t believe we are rising seniors in college! Time has really flown by for the Class of 2009. This year, we have been pursuing our majors, becoming leaders on campus, studying abroad and gaining work experience as interns. Over at Duke, Mitchel Gorecki is studying engineering and economics. This summer he is choosing between working for an advertising firm or a medical equipment firm. Mitchel plans to take a year after college to pursue something entrepreneurialrelated with medical school as a back-up. His fellow classmate at Duke, Adriane Soo, is majoring in neuroscience and minoring in English. This summer, she is working on her creative writing thesis and studying for the MCAT. This year, she competed in cross-country and track, while also doing improv comedy and swing dancing. Bekah Pea is also pursuing an English minor at Duke, with a major in psychology. This summer, she will be working as a research assistant for the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke, hopefully splitting her
time between working on several innovative randomized trials and also working in a clinical setting, assisting on projects involving assistance with service delivery and planning for clinical service redesign. She will continue to volunteer at Urban Ministries of Durham, where she interned last summer and during the school year. Carmen Augustine has enjoyed her spring semester at Duke, but she misses the pizza from her amazing semester in Florence, Italy. She switched her major to economics this semester and has been working on getting her required courses completed. A biology major and English minor, Lotte Van Miegroet is an organic chemistry lab teaching assistant, and has just been elected president of her sorority Theta Nu Xi. Lotte dances in Duke’s Momentum Dance Company and will be working at a breast cancer research lab at Duke this summer. Down the road at UNC, Sarah Sessoms enjoyed a very busy junior year at Carolina. Not only was she promoted to head manager for the JV men’s basketball team, but she also was an intern with the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team. She is trying to decide which summer internship to accept, and is very much looking forward to continuing to be successful in
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the sports world. After a busy fall semester at UNC, Claire Burridge studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland this spring and absolutely loved it. This summer, after backpacking around Europe, she will be living in Rome and doing archaeology right outside of the city. Eva Stein also traveled away from UNC this spring to study ecology in Quito, Ecuador and the Galapagos. She is excited to spend time in the Ecuadorian Amazon this summer. Noah Katz is majoring in English and digital culture (future studies) at UNC and is actively pursuing graphic design and advertising careers (especially with respect to aerospace and commercial brandmanagement). His computer service business KatzTech is off the ground, but will likely remain just a hobby. His dream is still to see humanity colonizing and exploring space. At Elon University, Barrett Carver loves being a member of Alpha Xi Delta. As a sport and event management major, Barrett is looking forward to interning with a sports organization in London, England, this summer. Also at Elon, Kate Giduz is vice president of the pre-law fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta; serves on executive council for the psychology honors society, Psi Chi; and is a new member of the Greek honor society, Gamma Sigma Alpha. She enjoys interning at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Court House and plans to continue this summer while living with other DA alumni in Chapel Hill. Yvette Luster also will be around the area this summer, working at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute in Dr. Haynes’ lab. At UNC-W, she is a double major in clinical research and psychology. Yvette is the goalie on the UNC-W club lacrosse team, which won the
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southeast regional championship this year. Andrea Stacy, who is a psychology major with a minor in neuroscience, spent the fall semester away from Wake Forest to study abroad at the University College London (UCL). She received a Richter Scholarship in March that will allow her to return to London this summer to work as a research assistant at UCL. After studying Renaissance art in Florence last summer, Rachel Dunn decided to pursue a double major in art history and marketing at William and Mary. In November, she was elected sorority president and will be attending the Delta Gamma national convention in June. This summer Rachel will be in New York City with a marketing internship. Up at Mount Holyoke, Stephanie Roses continued her role as student government vice president, hosting the annual Seven Sisters Conference in November. She also runs an afterschool program in Holyoke, Mass., for middle school students at high risk of dropping out. The program brings in varsity athletes to teach students the value of teamwork and education through athletics. She plans on starting a cooking club and road tripping to Vermont (Ben & Jerry’s factory!) and Canada as part of her senior year bucket list. At Cornell, Andrew Herington is continuing to study architecture. He is excited to study abroad in Rome next semester. Also, Andrew is helping to re-found Cornell’s chapter of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, which lost its charter his freshman year. Hillary Rosen is currently interning in development at North Carolina Theatre, which is housed in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. She is also doing lighting design at many local theatres including Manbites Dog Theatre, Raleigh Little Theatre and even Durham Academy Upper School. At 52
RPI, David Hey is a industrial management engineering major. He plays midfield for the nationally ranked varsity men’s lacrosse team. This summer, David will be an IT business-engineering analyst at Credit Suisse in Raleigh. Alexis Noel is working on her B.S. in mechanical engineering with a minor in aerospace engineering and will be attending graduate school at Georgia Tech for an additional year after her undergraduate degree. She has worked with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Airlines and will work with Coca Cola this summer. Alexis took a semester to study abroad in Singapore, where she got her scuba diving license in Malaysia; ate a jellyfish, stingray and frog and saw Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Cliff Drake just finished an internship at Broadlands Financial Group in Villanova, Pa. He is planning to study in Istanbul and Prague next year. Cliff is double majoring in economics and political science at Drexel and recently celebrated the two-year anniversary of his radio show, Dissociative Identity, on WKDU Philadelphia, 91.7 FM. One of your recorders, Collin Burks, is majoring in anthropology in Dartmouth. In the fall, she went on an amazing traveling study abroad program to India, China and South Africa. This summer, Collin will be at home studying for the MCAT and doing research for a senior thesis. Your other recorder, Worth Newman is at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, concentrating in finance and minoring in Latin American studies. He recently returned from a fantastic semester in Brazil and a social-impact themed spring break program in Panama and Cuba. Worth currently chairs Wharton’s student life group, the Cohort System. This summer, he looks
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forward to exploring India for several weeks before he begins his internship with the Latin American Investment Banking Group at Credit Suisse in New York.
Class of 2010 Caitlin Cleaver Caitlin.cleaver@duke.edu
Alumni from the Class of 2010 are doing absolutely amazing things in their second year out of high school – from participating in a range of activities, to studying interesting subjects, to planning and taking trips to amazing places, and working and getting internships. At Lawrence University, Ariel BlackshearTvrdy is planning to major in linguistics with certification in ESL teaching and minor in anthropology and psychology. She is playing women’s hockey and is enjoying spending time with her first grade buddy. She tutors three other students and has an internship teaching Latin to kids at a local school. She is involved in several clubs on campus, one of which (Confidence and Determination in Youth), she will co-chair next year. She hopes to go to Guatemala over the summer to volunteer with an educational enrichment program for impoverished youth. Over at Swarthmore, Daniel Browning continues to sing with his a cappella group and also directed a one-act play. He has declared an honors major in history, with an honors minor in political science and a course minor in Spanish. He will be studying in Buenos Aires in the fall. Jonathan Chamberlin has thoroughly enjoyed his sophomore year at Beloit College. He declared a major in computer science in addition to his theater arts: design major. He has been promoted to supervisor at the Beloit College Scene Shop, and he
designed lights for the first show of Beloit’s season, The Exonerated. Additionally, he designed lights for a dance and served as assistant lighting designer for another show. This summer he will be back in N.C., taking classes at UNC-CH and working in local theaters. Caitlin Cleaver had an amazing sophomore year at Duke! She declared a major in international comparative studies with a certificate in policy journalism. She continues to immensely enjoy her time in her sorority, Alpha Phi, and serves as chair of sisterhood activities. She will spend this summer interning for Chong and Koster, a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Then next fall she will be studying in Florence, Italy. After an incredible gap year, Maeve Cook-Deegan started her first year at University of St. Andrews and absolutely loves it. It is essentially an international bubble inside Scotland, and she has met lots of great people and had lots of freedom in her classes. Beyond academics, she joined the women’s soccer team and was recently elected captain of the second team for next year. Also, over her break, Maeve hitchhiked in a “charity race” to Barcelona from Edinburgh and she and two friends were able to hitch almost the entire way. All the teams raised over £35,000 for five different charities. At N.C. State, Ansilta De Luca-Westrate is studying sustainable agriculture and looking to work in ministry when she graduates. She is looking at a new arena that connects food and faith, specifically the importance of local food and community development. A few miles down the road at UNC-Chapel Hill, Elise Hartley has devoted this past year to volunteering, whether that’s coaching for Girls On the Run or Smith Middle School track, helping distressed couples in the UNC Psychology Department or
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teaching writing at Chapel Hill High. This summer she’ll be working in dance at Governor’s School West and exploring more research on campus, looking to a career in clinical psychology. Erik Heaney declared a double major in economics and English literature at Swarthmore. This summer he will work as an intern reporter at Connection Newspapers in Alexandria, Va. Sam Jones is loving life even more during his sophomore year at UNC-CH. He was accepted into the KenanFlagler Business School as a minor, which he finds to be the perfect outlet to apply his theoretical background as an economics and psychology double major. He landed a summer internship in credit risk analysis at CANSTAR in his hometown of Brisbane, Australia. On campus, he enjoys living in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house and is heading the admissions committee of the honors program student executive board with Elise Hartley. Next year he will be president of the UNC Psychology Club. Robert Kindman continues to “live the dream” in Cambridge, Mass., where he is studying statistics. He relives the glory days of his senior spring by playing an occasional game of tennis when weather permits. This summer he hopes to explore South Africa. Rhett King has declared an English literature major at NYU, and plans to complete a creative writing minor as well. She works as a freelance ghostwriter and email sales intern for a children’s book author. Rhett will spend next semester in London, and hopes to graduate in May 2013. Down at Arizona State University, Nick Marek has continued to enjoy his second year. Before it began, Nick was invited to Lake Placid, N.Y., to broadcast team USA hockey in their quest to being world champions. One of the biggest breaks in Nick’s sports
broadcasting career has been taking over the ASU club hockey broadcasting responsibilities. He was chosen to be the next play-by-play announcer of the nationally ranked hockey team. He will stay in Arizona this summer to intern at local television and radio stations and knock out a couple of prerequisite credits as well. Jennifer McMorrow has had a truly amazing sophomore year at Bowdoin College and recently declared a history major. The highlight of the year was getting the opportunity to direct Masque and Gown’s spring play, The History Boys. This summer she will study Arabic at the Middlebury summer language school in California in preparation for studying abroad in Alexandria, Egypt, next spring. At Davidson Tatum Pottenger has spent the year working as a teaching assistant with the German department, primarily with students in elementary German. She spends her free time working on various theater productions and singing in a community choir. She is a religion major and is now looking forward to spending fall semester in Berlin. Over at UNCGreensboro, Benjamin Preston made the dean’s list first semester and is on his way to making the chancellor’s list after this year is complete. He declared a major in physics and is planning on minoring in sociology. He has two jobs lined up for this summer, one as a lifeguard at his neighborhood pool, and another as a camp counselor for a couple of weeks in Hillsborough. Also at UNC-G, Maggie Ramsey has had a very exciting and busy year singing with UNC-G’s University Chorale as well as being in the cast of four operas. She was recently cast in a principal role in Pirates of Penzance for her school’s summer light opera program and also will be in the chorus of H.M.S.
Pinafore. She cannot wait to learn and perform these well-loved pieces and looks forward to further operatic pursuits next school year. Meanwhile, she is eagerly anticipating her brother’s graduation from Harvard in May and her 21st birthday in June. Marco Reyes has had an “extraordinary” sophomore year at High Point University. He continues to follow the pre-med track and is working towards a B.S. in biology. In the fall he began his job as resident assistant and will continue working for the Office of Student Life next year. He is a proud member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and is looking forward to another great year with friends and brothers. Since transferring from Duke to Barnard College, Abby Schoenfeld has declared a major in political science (concentrating in international relations) and a minor in French. She is involved with Columbia’s International Relations Association and staffs Model UN conferences for both high school and college students. She has continued with the cello, taking lessons and playing in a few classical ensembles and the new Columbia Middle Eastern Music Ensemble. This summer she will be interning at Human Rights Watch. She is beginning the frightening process of thinking about law school and/or graduate school for political science! Oliver Short transferred to UNC-CH and has declared a major in sports administration. He joined Alpha Tau Omega fraternity in the fall and returned to DA to serve in the spring as an assistant coach of the junior varsity baseball team with Andrew Weinhold ’05. Next fall he will be working with UNC’s sports information department covering the men’s basketball and football teams. Tevin Wilson has enjoyed a very successful
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sophomore year at East Carolina, looking to maintain a 4.0 GPA for the fourth straight semester. He has a declared a major in political science with a concentration in American politics and public administration and a minor in security studies. This spring he joined the National Political Science Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha. He was nominated for the East Carolina’s Senator John P. East Scholarship for showing interest in public service and being in the top third of his class. He looks forward to taking more advanced political science classes and working for ECU campus recreation and wellness in the fall.
Class of 2011
Grant Engebretsen Grant.engebretsen@gmail.com Erin O’Connor played with the Duke women’s soccer team this year and went to the NCAA championship game where the team lost to Stanford 1-0. The team finished as ACC Champions. Erin has also decided to major in psychology. Francesca Tomasi is enjoying her time at the University of Chicago. She has kept extremely busy with bonfires on Lake Michigan, tutoring patients at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, playing club sports on the quads (when it’s not zero degrees outside), going to downtown Chicago to watch Second City and everything in between. Francesca is planning on pursuing a biology major and computational neuroscience minor on the pre-med track. Derek Rhodes is majoring in public policy at Duke with a minor in Spanish. Derek also spent time this year as a manager for the men’s basketball team and was recently elected vice president of the student body. •
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Regional SPRING
SPRING
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Regional Events
This was a busy spring for the Alumni Office as we traveled across the country to reconnect with alumni and friends. The travels began in San Francisco, Calif., where alumni and friends gathered to share current happenings and to hear about the goings-on at Durham Academy. The next stop was Charlotte. A group of 15 alumni enjoyed food, drinks and the opportunity to see renderings of the new gymnasium and photos of the recently completed Upper School Learning Commons. A Washington Capitals home hockey playoff game didn’t deter D.C.-area alumni from showing up to Chinatown and enjoying a great evening. Last, but definitely not least, was a trip to New York City. Thirty-five alumni came to the Upper East Side to catch up with old classmates, meet new ones and have the opportunity to share a few laughs. Be on the lookout for a listing of upcoming alumni events in Durham and across the country. — TIM MCKENNA, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI AFFAIRS 54
DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
Events
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in memoriam • Marjorie Willard Penton Miller, mother of Marjorie Miller ’80 and
Edmond Miller ’81 and grandmother of Meredith Rose Shanoski ’12 died on March 10, 2011. She was a longtime friend and supporter of Durham Academy. • William Alexander Graham, III ’61 died January 11. He practiced
law in Hillsborough, Durham and Sparta, N.C., both in private practice and public service, and was an adjunct professor at N.C. State University. He is survived by a brother, Thomas DeGraffenried Graham ’64; his wife, Karen Lowrance; and four children, William A. Graham, IV ’89, Cameron Graham Vivanco ’91, Brittany Elizabeth Graham and Brian Scott Graham. • Julie Singdahlsen died February 16 in Asheville. She was a
professional watercolor artist and taught art at Durham Academy for nearly 30 years. She developed the Upper School art program, including instituting an AP Art program. She is survived by her husband, the Rev. Robert Singdahlsen of Brevard, who taught also at DA; two sons: Ted Singdahlsen ’83, and his wife, Lauren Alexander Singdahlsen ’85, of Durham, and Eric Singdahlsen ’86 of Fairfax, Va. She was working on a book of cartoons about her experiences as a cancer patient, which may be published posthumously. • Mark A. Verwoerdt ’86 died unexpectedly June 4 at his home
in Chicago, Ill. Mark graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Texas School of Architecture. He was a gifted artist, avid cyclist and competitive swing dancer, but he found his true calling in being an exceptional dad to his two small sons. Surviving are his wife and sons, Meg Kindelin, and Walker and Arthur Verwoerdt; his mother and stepfather, Dorothy and Peter Irigaray of Durham; and his brother, Chris Verwoerdt ’84 of Winston-Salem.
DA Alumni Party at Alivia’s Bistro Wednesday, Nov. 21 • 8-11p.m.
Cash Bar for 21 and over • Complimentary Appetizers Kick off the Thanksgiving weekend with your DA classmates and enjoy drinks, food and fun!
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Alumni WEDDINGS
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WEDDINGS
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F a l l 2 0 11 t h r o u g h S p r i n g 2 0 12
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Michael McGuire and Beverly Foulks ’94 September 10, 2011 • Wilmington, NC
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Jeff Boden and Erika Estrada ’99 October 1, 2011 • Miami, FL
Bradley Dawson and Katie McClay ’97 October 8, 2011 • Durham, NC Justin Howe and Caroline Russell ’03 October 9, 2011 • Pittsboro, NC Ted Roach and Leah Bergman ’94 December 31, 2011 • Raleigh, NC 4
Eric Farmer and Leigh Quarles ’00 December 31, 2011 • Memphis, TN
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Brian Daniels and Caroline Toher ’02 March 3, 2012 • Durham, NC
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Jake Jordan and Terri Ginsberg ’00 March 10, 2012 • Chapel Hill, NC
7
1. Bradley Dawson and Katie McClay Dawson ’97 2. Jeff Boden and Erika Estrada Boden ’99
3. Amar Goli ’99, Mike Dolan ’99, Erika Estrada Boden ’99,
Amanda Huber ’99, Molly Prentis Richey ’99 and Jason Sholtz ’99
4. Elizabeth Shows Caffey ’94, Alycia Levy ’94, Beverly Foulks McGuire ’94, Katherine Wilhelm-Hilkey Boyatt ’94 and Carson Harkrader Granger ’94
5. Bryan Daniels and Caroline Toher Daniels ’02 6. Justin Howe and Caroline Russell Howe ’03 7. Eric Farmer and Leigh Quarles Farmer ’00 8. Ted Roach and Leah Bergman Roach ’94
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DURHAM ACADEMY RECORD | SUMMER 2012 | WWW.DA.ORG
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Broadway will be calling When it came time for their class play, Sheri-lyn Carrow’s pre-kindergarten students gave a rousing dramatization of a favorite book, Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. Performing in the play were Christopher Brady, Owen Dahl, Sol Dhungana, Nicholas Friga, McKenzie Graves, Jane Hark, Bennett Harris, Justin Kim, Stephanie Krieger, Ben Lacoff, Devon Lindberg, Wolf Martin, Annie Muir, Ellen Penry, Leela Rajagopal and Jacob Valentine. Photos by Sheri-lyn Carrow
D U R H A M A C A D E M Y 3601 RIDGE ROAD DURHAM, NC 27705-5599
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID DURHAM, NC 27701 PERMIT #1083
College Choices for the Class of 2012
COLLEGE CHOICES ABOVE, from left: New graduates Sarah Molina and Becky McMorrow • Justin Lawson and Drew Gustafson • In-Young Jo and Abhiyant Singh • Nylah Jimerson and Carey Marr Photos by Les Todd
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Jared Anderson............... Berklee College of Music Banks Anderson.............. Duke University Jordan Baker................... University of Pennsylvania Katie Baker..................... Elon University Nicole Bassil................... University of North Carolina Chapel Hill • Jennifer Bramson............ University of St. Andrews (Scotland) • Keegan Brian.................. Virginia Polytechnic Institute • Shad Brown.................... Rochester Institute of Technology • Braxton Carr................... Rhodes College • Josh Choper.................... University of Chicago • Shannon Cleaver............. North Carolina State University • Maggie Coates................ Duke University • Alexander Coleman........ Tulane University • Vinnie Corwin................. Northeastern University • Sarah Cox....................... Oberlin College • Christopher Crawford..... Princeton University • Laura D’Agati................. Skidmore College • Ellen Davenport.............. North Carolina State University • Katie Davidson............... Chapman University • Lucy Dempsey................. Davidson College • Kyle Fairchild-Carbonell.... Villanova University • Annie Giarla.................... Earlham College • Ethan Grant.................... Columbia University • Drew Gustafson.............. University of North Carolina Wilmington • Megan Haas................... Northeastern University • Caroline Hardin.............. Wake Forest University • Jakayla Hart.................... Emory University • Alanna Heyer.................. University of Chicago • Sammy Hobgood........... Furman University • Katherine Hodges........... Washington and Lee University • H. Hoell III...................... University of South Carolina
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Nylah Jimerson............... Agnes Scott College In-Young Jo..................... Duke University Kiran Jones..................... Duke University Michael Kontos.............. Duke University Kameron Kooshesh........ Harvard University Marissa Kuo................... University of Virginia Fred Landis..................... Boston University Mac Landis..................... Case Western Reserve University Justin Lawson................. North Carolina A&T State University • Chris Lee......................... Hamilton College • Sarah Lerner................... University of North Carolina Chapel Hill • Hannah Lewis................. Connecticut College • Alan Lindsey................... College of Charleston • Gwendolyn Lloyd............ Kenyon College • Giulia Lopomo............... University of Southern California • Carey Marr..................... Williams College • Cameron McHutchison... High Point University • Becky McMorrow........... Muhlenberg College • Matt Merritt................... Virginia Polytechnic Institute • Sarah Molina.................. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill • Virginia Moorman.......... Clemson University • Maddy Mumma............. Duke University • Luke Myer....................... Washington and Lee University • Jordan Myers.................. Princeton University • Shan Nagar.................... Bowdoin College • Lydia Nicholson.............. Colby College • Kayleigh Norman............ Radford University • Matthew Novak.............. Haverford College • Toni Pappas................... University of North Carolina Chapel Hill • Kunal Patel..................... Vanderbilt University
• Seth Paterson................. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill • Kellen Peter..................... Bucknell University • Morgan Peterson............ Clemson University • Kyle Pinheiro de Oliveira... Wake Forest University • Sara Pruitt...................... Macalester College • Indira Puri....................... Harvard University • Ishani Purohit................. Duke University • Daniel Reed.................... University of North Carolina Greensboro • Simone Robinson........... Gap Year • Lauren Rogers................. Wake Forest University • Carlton Rollins................ University of North Carolina Chapel Hill • Julia Rowe....................... Tufts University • Julianna Ruben............... Undecided • Rainier Rubin.................. Duke University • Vishal Rutanen-Whaley.... North Carolina State University • Jules Sawhill.................... Oberlin College • Meredith Shanoski.......... Smith College • Abhiyant Singh............... Dartmouth College • Lindsay Soo.................... Wake Forest University • Blake Stafford................. Furman University • Emily Stokes................... University of North Carolina Asheville • Annemarie Thomas........ Stevens Institute of Technology • Noah Tulsky................... Cornell University • Lindsay Walker............... Chapman University • Virginia Wertman........... Emory University • Sam Wollman................ Southern Methodist University • Alex Young...................... Harvard University • Anna Young.................... Yale University • Mariah Young-Jones....... New York University • Alida Zimmerman........... Elon University