Parent Resources

from The Courtyard 2022

DDS Graduating Class of 2022

FLASHBACK

Anthony Family

ARTHUR Most of my fondest DDS memories involve my little sisters in one way or another. While we did not see a whole lot of each other during a typical school day, it was always comforting knowing that Mimi and Sarah were somewhere close by.

To me, the best time of the day was always during the carpool rides to and from school, usually with either one of our parents, the McWilliams, or the Casertanos. Those were the times when we enjoyed sharing stories about students or about something funny that happened in Mrs. Bialek’s music class or at a basketball practice with Mr. Mercer. Nothing at school would have been as much fun or as meaningful if I had not had two sisters who could relate to what I was experiencing.

MIMI DDS was and is an incredibly unique educational experience. I feel so lucky to have taken ski lessons every Friday of the winter for nine years. I was in three phenomenal plays, learned to read music and play a variety of instruments in Mr. Umiker’s Latin rock show and travelled to Cape Cod for Nature’s Classroom. I will never forget working with clay in the morning in Mrs. Rosse’s class to “wake up our hands” and taking the classroom outside with Mrs. Follansbee. The best part of DDS was undoubtedly the school community. The faculty, staff, and students pretty much all remained lifers, so we all grew up together. The number of siblings who attended DDS are too many to count! Having my siblings Arthur and Sarah there with me was really something special that I will cherish forever.

SARAH I recall the happy tradition of beginning every school day by being warmly greeted by the Head of School as we entered the school building, I also remember that if we became sick or injured at school, we had to go to Mrs. Potter’s office and wait for one of our parents to come and take us home. Fall Festival was a blast as we celebrated the beautiful Dutchess County Autumns while competing on the athletic fields against rival schools. The field day at the end of the year featured the Blue and White teams, and the Anthonys were members of the White team. I have fond memories of Mrs. Bialek’s music class, which was a special experience, as was Ms. Dreier’s class, as she surrounded herself and her students with her stuffed animals. We were fortunate to have had so many excellent teachers for our DDS years.

ANN As parents of three DDS students, we considered the school our second home. We attended every play, concert, athletic event, book fair, and auction, where we became friends with so many other wonderful parents. I was president of the Parent’s Association for a year, which kept me busy, especially in the afternoons and evenings fielding phone calls! At that time, I was frequently traveling back and forth to NYC (mostly with (Margaret Bova and Lisa Fresne who were my business partners at Citrus—a handbag company in Manhattan with HQ in Millbrook). It was like Mr. Toad’s wild ride – drop off the kids at 8:00, drive to NYC, work until we had to drive back up, no lunch, no luxuries. More than once we sped up the Taconic just in the nick of time to rendez-vous with our children at the end of the school day. We eventually got it down to a science. Once we crossed under the Route 84 overpass, it was exactly 20 minutes to the front door of DDS! Those were the days!

BOB In addition to being a DDS parent, I became a trustee and eventually the Board Chair for six years. It was an exciting time for Dutchess Day as we built the Bontecou Gymnasium and helped to build an endowment for the school. I take my hat off to all trustees who have served DDS with loyal devotion from its founding in 1955 until the present. May our school serve and flourish in the years ahead.

The Anthony family: Bob, Sarah ’08, Ann, Arthur ’03, Mimi Anthony Cushing ’04, and Jamie Cushing

(CONTINUED)

2015

Lizzie Chamberlin is majoring in Economics, and minoring in Politics and Psychology, at The University of SouthSewanee, where she is a junior and was “gowned” this past October. Gowning is an academic honor conferred during the course of studies rather than at graduation, per Sewanee tradition. Lizzie is playing varsity lacrosse (thanks to Ms. Schoch) and riding on the equestrian team.

2016

Claire Macedonia is attending Dartmouth.

2017

Daisy Dundas is at Dartmouth Amber Hatfield is attending the University of Miami. Katie Salnikoff attends Wake Forest University Olivia Charles is at the University of Toronto. Asa Tuke is a freshman at Washington and Lee Gavin Schneible ’12

FLASHBACK

Kerckerinck Family

Writing about my days at DDS is always a welcome and fun trip down memory lane. I absolutely loved my years at DDS and seeing how my sisters and I were all there from K-8th we have a lot of memories.

One of my favorite stories is getting lost in kindergarten on a fieldtrip. Not sure if this is the best one to start with, but I’m going in chronological order. Mrs. Rosse would take us on mini field trips every Friday. Basically, we just went for a walk off the school property, but it always felt like an exciting adventure. On this particular Friday, I had the coveted role of line leader, yet managed to get separated from the class (along with Brad Potter, Eliot Clarke, and Brian Liebowitz) in a huge corn field. Obviously, we found the group, and all was well, but for my little 6-year-old heart it was quite an adventure. Mrs. Rosse is one of the reasons I eventually went into teaching myself. There were so many teachers who made lasting impressions on me. Mrs. Poholchuk ignited my love of history and taught me how to properly take notes as well as organize my schoolwork in a way that made studying for tests much more efficient. A method I still use as an adult. My sisters and I all loved being Queen at the medieval feast organized and hosted by the 5th grade every year. Mr. Mercer would sneak us 8th graders out of lunch to watch alien abduction movies until the family of one very frightened 8th grader found out and put a swift end to the viewing parties. We had amazing trips, whether it was the whale watch at Nature’s Classroom, or the IMS ropes course. There were so many experiences that I didn’t realize until years later were extraordinary and formative. While many make lifelong friends in high school,

I made mine at DDS. I am still friends with Eliot Clarke, Walid Abu-Haidar, and Brendan Mason to this day. Vanessa Park gets credit for my lifelong love of reading and English. Throughout my continued schooling, I always loved English classes and creative writing. I loved questioning everything and the safety of the teaching environment at DDS to do just that. Something I have become hyper aware of, especially since my own children are now in school in Germany, is that DDS really teaches its students how to learn- how to question, explore, and research on their own and to not just accept what was taught to us as the only truth. I was able to return to DDS as a parent. My three children had the privilege of attending DDS for six years. It remains the highlight of their schooling experience and everything is compared to DDS. I am so incredibly thankful that I was able to attend DDS all the way Sisters, Antonia ’94, through and carry the education Teresa ’95, and Philipa ’97, and wonderful memories with me. I ended up at St. George’s School in Newport, RI, and after that graduated cum Laude from Emerson College in Boston with a BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Dutchess Day really can be credited with sparking my lifelong desire for knowledge and continued education.

Class of ’17: Amber Hatfield, Ben Barton, Daisy Dundas, Katie Salnikoff and Olivia Charles

Ben Yager ’12

University, where he plays on the varsity soccer team.

2018

Minali Abraham-Aggarwal

is attending Tufts University in September. Grace Macedonia is attending Smith College in September. Stella Slade is travelling to Dublin to attend Trinity College. Patrick Murphy is attending Iona College in September.

2020

Andrew Lee and Benjamin and Bradley Langdon attend Grace & Claire Macedonia

Our Lady of Lourdes. Ben is a member of the jam band and Bradley is on the football team. James Patterson is at Millbrook School.

Class of ’18: Faculty members Mike Tarantino, Julie Murphy with Minali Aggarwal, Grace Macedonia, Stella Slade and Patrick Murphy Class of ’20: Andrew Lee, Blake Cho ’22, Ben Langdon, James Patterson, and Bradley Langdon

IN MEMORY

The Dutchess Day School community mourns the sudden passing of Alexandra Bullock Olsen ’96, in New Mexico in October. We remember Alex as a thoughtful student full of energy and good cheer, a dedicated athlete (in her 8th grade yearbook she and her friend Jen were named “Most Obsessed Swimmers”), and a devoted community member. Long after she and her brothers, Carroll ’00 and Perry ’00, graduated from DDS, they would return to visit or to continue their tradition of bringing in the family coin jar as a donation to the third grade food drive. Our thoughts are with Perry, Carroll, their parents, Whitney and Clark, and Alex’s New Mexico family and community.