Reports 2014

REPORTS

VOLUME XXVII SUMMER 2014

FOR FAR BROOK ALUMNI & FAMILIES NEAR & FAR

“THE PLAY’S THE THING” Shakespeare – A Central Part of the Far Brook Experience

STEPPING INTO THE CLASSROOMS A Photo Tour of Art, Drama, Music, and Woodshop

SPECIAL INSERT: IMAGINE THE POSSIBLITIES Campaign and Building Update

REPORTS

VOLUME XXVII SUMMER 2014

20 Development / 22 Graduates / 26 Alumni News / 30 Faculty News / 33 We Remember

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SPECIAL INSERT

CONTENTS

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“THE PLAY’S THE THING” Shakespeare – A Central Part of the Far Brook Experience

STEPPING INTO THE CLASSROOMS A Photo Tour of Art, Drama, Music, and Woodshop

SPECIAL INSERT Campaign and Building Update

Editors Jennifer Barba Helen Kaplus Editorial Assistants Joan Burr Peggy Fawcett Principal Photographers Jim Benz Stephen Giordano Todd Goodman Emi Ithen Helen Kaplus Penny Sokolowski Will Winburn

COVER PHOTO Director of Drama James Glossman works with 2013 Alumni Elijah Chilton, as Ferdinand, and Amanda Celli, as Miranda, in The Tempest.

A MESSAGE TO FAR BROOK ALUMNI AND FAMILIES AS I ENTER MY FIFTH YEAR AS HEAD OF SCHOOL, I AM AMAZED BY THE PASSAGE OF TIME. It is hard to believe that another school year has come to a close. Although it is summer, the campus is in full swing as we prepare for the upcoming year. As a first step in the creation of our new Music and Arts building and Science and Environmental Center, temporary classrooms are being constructed near the front of campus. It is exciting to watch. Camps are in session, faculty are attending professional development workshops and conferences, and the Administration is preparing for the first day of school in September.

I am grateful to our dedicated community – the Board of Trustees, our current and past families, alumni, and friends, who have generously supported our Capital Campaign this year and helped to make these two new buildings a reality for Far Brook. We can “imagine” our students in new classrooms opening to the Wetlands Habitat, inspired by natural beauty; such a meaningful piece of Far Brook’s ethos.

Please see the Campaign insert in this magazine which highlights our progress this year and also provides an overview of the plans to improve our facilities.

We welcome our 2014 graduates to the alumni family and wish them well as they head off to new adventures in high school. We congratulate the members of the Far Brook class of 2010 who move on to an impressive list of colleges and universities this fall. You’ll find the school lists in these pages, along with news from our alumni and updates on our exceptional faculty.

Also in this issue, I hope you enjoy our cover story on Shakespeare and the accompanying article illustrating the importance of the integration of the arts and music in our curriculum. In addition, we have included photos of events and learning experiences on campus during the past year. As always, we welcome your feedback and updates as you continue your journey beyond Far Brook.

WARMLY,

AMY ZIEBARTH Head of School

DEVELOPMENT / 15

“

“A Far Brook education is interdisciplinary in nature...”

Zoe Gonzalez ‘14 as Nick Bottom with Isabel Giordano ‘14 as Peaseblossom in the 2014 Production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

SHAKESPEARE – A CENTRAL PART OF THE FAR BROOK EXPERIENCE

“ The P lay s the Thing” –William Shakespeare

Education Night Speech by Amy Ziebarth, Head of School, October 23, 2013

A

FAR BROOK EDUCATION IS AN ARC FROM NURSERY THROUGH THE EIGHTH GRADE AND IS MULTILAYERED AND DELIBERATE. The concept of “learning through the arts,” which often describes part of our philosophy, is based on the concept of deepening the learning experience for children and increasing the flexibility and creativity of the brain. For similar reasons, students at Far Brook experience a broad education, ranging from math, science, history, and literature, to sports, woodshop, library, and the fine and performing arts. A Far Brook education is interdisciplinary in nature and cumulative by design. We give each one of our students the gift of high expectations.

Speaking of great expectations, I want to talk with you about the vital core values of Shakespeare and how its teaching here is integral to the growth and education of Far Brook children; how it will make a dramatic difference in their lives.

I love to have the opportunity to spend time with our faculty members, talking about the way they educate children. I met recently with several of our teachers to take a closer look at the Shakespeare experience; how we approach it; how it is interwoven and integrated throughout the grades.

You may not even realize what a central part of our experience Shakespeare is – not just reading, but actively investigating, comprehending, and then speaking and

performing great literature and language. I know of no other school that recognizes the far-reaching importance of being exposed to and then gradually and fully internalizing the beautiful and compelling language of Shakespeare. It is a lynchpin and beginning place for further adventures of all sorts of great literature.

We give each one of our students

the gift of high expectations.

When my children first came to Far Brook, I was so amazed at the breadth and depth of what we do here.

Each year increases my understanding and appreciation.

The final Shakespeare play at the end of the year, either The Tempest or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is the Eighth Grade’s graduation gift to the School. But not only do all the students experience multiple Shakespeare plays throughout the year (Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, or Henry IV for example), but others like Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus or Euripides’ Ephigenia at Aulis, Shaw’s Saint Joan, Brecht’s Galileo, and the works of American authors such as Langston Hughes, Eudora Welty, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, to name a few.

THE PLAY’S THE THING / 5

Matthew Melillo ’13 as Ariel in the 2013 Performance of The Tempest

I would like to quote from “The Roots of Excellence,” our discourse on Far Brook’s educational philosophy and methods of teaching by Founding Director Winifred Moore.

She wrote: “ …Only where the arts are at the center of the curriculum as qualitative, humanizing influences; …only as arts are the bridge between methods and subject matter, is moral thinking developed in education. Far Brook plays...develop a special dimension: children unafraid and unconscious of audience; children deeply disciplined by concentration on a center through a communal effort. This develops wholeness, style, composition, relatedness, proportion, and judgment.”

Our process begins with the youngest in Nursery and Kindergarten, as the children learn the story and get to know the characters. They see the scenes in Morning Meeting acted out by their older role models, the Eighth

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Graders. They memorize phrases and, as the children move through their years here, begin memorizing whole parts of the play. What begins in Nursery is woven throughout the Lower and Middle Schools and culminates in the Junior High.

When Ed Solecki (our Seventh and Eighth Grade history teacher) first interviewed here over 30 years ago, he witnessed a Shakespeare graduation play rehearsal and was taken aback with how good it was. And he asked, “How do you do Shakespeare in eight weeks?”

The reply: “Not eight weeks, ten years.”

Each year, Second Graders act out pieces of the graduation play and memorize the songs. We are not surprised when young children understand the nuances and complexities of Shakespeare and take such pleasure in the humor.

As our Director of Drama James Glossman told me, “Shakespeare helps their humanity, like Bach helps their math.”

By Sixth Grade, students are rehearsing their own class play while also reading the entire graduation Shakespeare play. They learn how plays evolved through the Middle Ages; they memorize speeches and study the relationship among the characters, as they gain a greater understanding of the plot.

By May each year, all students are engaged in Shakespeare. Remember, each class play is presented to the entire school in Morning Meeting. If you think about it, every child at Far Brook has a personal subscription to a fully producing repertory theater!

The more time I spend with Jim Glossman, the more I fully comprehend the method to his madness. He tells me that over time, and through constant exposure and active engagement, each child experiences poetry and rhythm and develops the ability to communicate a compellingly good story and analyze complex language as if it were second nature to them. As he said last week, “At Far Brook, the students get to experience Shakespearean language and to make it their own before they realize it is difficult or ‘something good for them’ or ‘highbrow.’ They begin to own it from a very early age.”

Students get such tools here, tools that give them tremendous power. And the growth is consistent and constant, and with each year, the work is more challenging and elaborate.

As I hope you know, writing is essential to us here.

The story-telling process begins as the children walk through the door in Nursery. Through the study of literature, students learn how to separate thoughts and sub-thoughts. Shakespeare has very long and complex sentences that can sometimes go on for as much as a page. Eighth Graders thoroughly read and analyze their play. Jim asks, “What is the verb in this sentence?” “What is the noun?” “What is going on here?” As each student begins to read the words out loud, he or she “owns” it and then can take others along with them, wherever they want to go.

I am really struck when I see at Far Brook even the newest members of our community seamlessly enter in Fourth Grade or Sixth or Seventh, and in no time at all are full members of this School. They seem to fully understand and value their experiences.

As we have often heard – and we all know to be true – one of our greatest fears as human beings is public speaking. Last year, one of the Eighth Graders asked me if I get nervous when I speak in public and I said “absolutely – always!” She smiled and said, “Amy, if you had gone to Far Brook, it would be a breeze.”

Our students begin speaking in front of others as early as five years of age, and in a supportive and caring environment. From woodshop shows in Morning Meeting, to sports reports, class presentations, and plays, children from the youngest ages are learning poise, articulation, practice, discipline, and the beauty of good humor.

Winfred Moore writes: “ Great plays are given to children here; for they deeply understand them in part and return to them all through their lives. Children and the great artists belong together. Shakespeare is not cultural at Far Brook, but a good plot, a conflict between good and evil, between monsters and good spirits, between conspirators and noble creatures; and Shakespeare leads children to the limit of joyous, fantastic comedy.”

Our students begin speaking in front of

others as early as five years of age...

We hear comments all the time from alumni in both high school and college – even about a Shakespearean play they had never seen or done at Far Brook – and how easy it is for them to understand it! Here, as students get older, the acting for them may be new, but hearing the language isn’t. What is known as “great works” has been demystified so students can feel ever more at home and actively engage with the words.

It is not uncommon for alumni to write about Far Brook in their college essays. Let me share with you part of one written by a Far Brook graduate about Shakespeare: continued on page 11

2014 Alumni Ben Lee and Adebisi Adetoye as Oberon and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

LEFT TO RIGHT: Kindergartners love the characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Kindergartners create Shakespeare character figurines; Kindergarten Interpretation of The Tempest; Gavin Branch ’13 as Gonzalo in The Tempest 2013

Shakespeare Begins in Nursery and Kindergarten

Far Brook’s Nursery and Kindergarten students are as comfortable with the stories and tales of William Shakespeare as they are with Dr. Seuss. Every year in the late spring, as Eighth Graders prepare for their Shakespeare play, the Nursery and Kindergarten faculty “unfold” the play for our youngest students. They listen with rapt interest and anticipation as their teachers retell A Midsummer Night’s Dream or The Tempest.

Teachers read child-friendly versions of the plays and share their own personal excitement of how these stories have been presented over the years, bringing to life the magic and delight of our two Shakespeare plays. Nursery and Kindergarten students are introduced to the flowery, poetic language of Shakespeare by hearing and singing the actual words of the Bard. We love their voices as they sing together: “You spotted snakes ...” or “Where the Bee Sucks, There suck I.” With their bursting imaginations they relate to the fairies and to the magic.

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Kindergartners dress up in the dramatic play area, donning capes and hats as Titania, Oberon, and even Prospero, the wizard. The kings, queens, and dukes of Shakespeare connect with their study of the Middle Ages.

Math and art activities center on the characters, as well.

Kindergartners create murals reflecting the scenes that take place in Shakespeare’s Ancient Athens, including such wonderful characters as the Duke of Theseus, Hippolyta, and the Mechanicals, or on the Island that Miranda and Prospero inhabit.

In Nursery, each child creates a gift using wood blocks or milk cartons, representing a tree or ship (depending on the play that year) with a photo of an Eighth Grader and a drawing of the character that he/she portrays. These mementos are presented to the graduates on the last Morning Meeting of the school year. How wonderful to have our youngest look up to our graduates.

These students are poised and ready to sit back and enjoy the words of the Bard by the end of the school year.

The Shakespeare journey, which ends on the stage in Eighth Grade, has begun.

– by Helen Kaplus with faculty input

THE PLAY’S THE THING / 9

“...to work as a team... demands a comfort in taking risks... ” 2014 Seventh Graders as Feeble and Falstaff in Henry IV, Part II, Part II

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continued from page 7

“ … And so it began, that every year, when the days grew longer and the temperature would rise, I would be asked to paint a portrait of “The bank where the wild thyme grows,” to memorize the monologue that started, “You spotted snakes with double tongue,” to write a reflection on the line, “If we shadows have offended.” Each new year, whether from kindergarten to second grade, or sixth to eighth, was like a new experience with an old friend. While my first encounter with the play mostly focused on the elements of fantasy and magic, later on, I was more interested in the literary techniques that abound in such a lyrical work of art. Just as my knowledge of the play became more sophisticated, and the expectations of my analysis increased, so did my recognition of what A Midsummer Night’s Dream meant to me as an individual. ...It not only introduced me to the compelling world of literature but it allowed me to better realize the person I have become.”

Needless to say, this graduate was accepted to Amherst College and is now a finance writer and editor.

As Jim has explained to me, if you can take a complex idea and a long thought, and are able to understand it, to present it simply, directly, and compellingly to others, you can truly make your way in the world. Those who can analyze and articulate complex ideas contribute to the mastery and spirit of the world in whatever profession they choose. To create an ensemble – to work as a team – demands attention, a comfort in taking risks, the ability to listen and to make room for others.

The understanding of the Nursery child evolves into the experience of the Eighth Grader presenting the play to the entire community as the culmination of their educational experience. The constant growth of students at Far Brook comes from the “Roots” and continues through their last night as graduating Eighth Graders on this campus.

Imagine a painter priming the canvas, spending years mixing the paint and then, ultimately, after much study and experience, finally getting to paint the picture.

[Special thanks to Far Brook faculty and Carol Sargent]

LEFT TO RIGHT: Kindergarten Mural of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Myla Stovall ’14 and Magda Kligerman ’14 as Snug the Joiner and Peter Quince.

Shakespeare in the Fourth Grade Each year the Fourth Graders are reacquainted with either A Midsummer Night’s Dream or The Tempest.

The Shakespeare play that they study is especially meaningful because it will also be their graduation play. Some students, from the earliest age, wonder which character they will play when they are in Eighth Grade, but as the time gets closer and the students become older, they begin to understand the importance of each role in the play.

In class, the students read through an abridged version of the play with teachers Rebecca Campbell and Kerry Jones and participate in several related activities. They read excerpts from the play, make choral recitations of speeches, and discuss comparisons to other novels they have read. As a writing exercise, the students often choose which role they would like to play and explain what attracted them to that particular part. They are also asked to write about the characters as protagonists and antagonists and to consider what motivates them. During Morning Meeting, the Fourth Grade class also joins the School in singing the songs associated with the plays.

The Shakespeare journey continues.

– by Helen Kaplus

THE PLAY’S THE THING / 11

welcome

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At Far Brook School, the arts are an essential and exciting component of everyday learning. This year, we have chosen to highlight four disciplines that challenge and inspire the children through the multiple forms of art, drama, music, and woodshop. With the direction of our talented faculty, students learn to express their newfound knowledge and to make meaningful connections to universal ideals.Â

Art, Drama, Music, and Woodshop STEPPING INTO THE CLASSROOMS

by Helen Kaplus with faculty input

STEPPING INTO THE CLASSROOMS / 13

ART

Nancy McIntyre’s project-based art program frequently relates to classroom core studies. Children develop skills over time, and projects incorporate not only essential questions about content, but also focus on critical thinking, problem solving, working collaboratively, and understanding the importance of narrative in art.

Through the years, the children are involved in creating works of art through various mediums.

Nursery students paint bird families in temperas, reinforcing their classroom study of winter birds. The birds are cut out and placed on bases, ultimately becoming a sculpture.

First Graders paint double-layered self-portraits entitled “The Inside Outside Me.” The outside, formal self-portrait is executed on clear workable acetate, while the inside portrait is done on canvas board with oil pastels, and depicts dreams, desires, and hopes that the children feel are descriptive of them. Both portraits are attached as one unit so the images can be viewed simultaneously.

Fourth Grade Egyptian death masks begin with a plaster cast made of each student’s face. Students discuss Ancient Egyptian iconography and a variation of this imagery is included on the surface decoration of the mask and its crown. “Jewels” and other decorative items complete the project.

Sixth Graders create package designs for “commercial” products and the logos that appear on them.

Understanding the psychology of selling and how shape, size, and color influence the consumer are essential components of this project.

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Seventh Graders paint in oil on canvas in their “mini” class. All formal issues of art, including perspective, texture, composition, and shading are emphasized. Students become familiar with using color theory to mix colors that describe form and reflect the reality of the still life that they are painting.

Eighth Graders learn about the artist Joseph Cornell who created assemblage boxes that conveyed themes by incorporating surrealism and symbolism. In their “mini,” the students develop themes that communicate aspects of their personalities or significant personal experiences using symbolic imagery. The students write the meaning behind the imagery of their assemblage box.

Through the years, the children are involved in creating works of art through various mediums.

In art classes, creativity and imagination are consistently emphasized within a balanced structure that permits self-expression. Exposure to various mediums facilitates the student’s ability to investigate multiple forms of communication and reinforces the School’s philosophy of experiential learning.

Drama Program

Director of Drama James Glossman leads Fourth through Eighth Graders through the journey of story-telling. And each year all Far Brook children – Nursery through Eighth Graders – get to experience six or seven plays portraying tales from Ancient Egypt to modern America. Over the years of exposure to fine theater works at Morning Meeting, the children gradually become comfortable with “cultural literacy in motion.” Jim says, “It’s like swimming – when you start early, and it’s always a part of your world, you don’t have any reason to think it’s hard!”

Fourth Graders begin to work as an ensemble with poetry and learn to breathe and speak together. Early in the year, they often present pieces by Shel Silverstein or Robert Frost that tell a short story in rhyming schemes.

Later, their class play, which relates a fable of Ancient Egypt, is an ensemble-based choral work, peppered by solos, duets, and smaller groups.

The curriculum in Fifth Grade is Ancient Greece. These students act out tales of ancient legends told by a Chorus: stories by Euripides, Aeschylus, or Sophocles. Here, individuals step out of the Chorus to draw out conflicts and the children delve into more complicated situations.

Early Rome and medieval times are the studies during the Sixth Grade, and the class play is chosen from a library of Shakespeare’s plays with Roman or early medieval settings, or Ancient Roman comedies. Plot and character begin to drive the story, and plots, told in scenes, take

Children gradually become comfortable with ‘cultural literacy in motion.’ place over days, weeks, or even months. It becomes a challenge to the students to imagine themselves living in another time.

In Seventh Grade, they continue to work on even more complex and challenging pieces. As the children study the history of Europe and China, Jim draws their plays from a “whole world of drama.” These students have presented Brecht’s Galileo, Shaw’s Saint Joan, and Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth.

Eighth Graders apply all they have learned to colloquial American literature by authors such as Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, Thornton Wilder, or O. Henry and present the first class play of the year in the fall. They return to the stage in June with their traditional graduation gift to the School of either A Midsummer Night’s Dream or The Tempest.

STEPPING INTO THE CLASSROOMS / 15

Music Begins In Lower School

Erasmia Voukelatos, Lower School music teacher, owes her teaching philosophy partly to Zoltán Kodály, the Hungarian pedagogue. “We all have music in us,” she says, and it is her job to awaken that voice in each student. She has based her music program on the belief that folk music is the best material to sing and introduces her students to American folk melodies as well as to those from around the world, often in their original tongues (French, German, Hindi, Mandarin, Arabic, Hebrew, et al), “since we are a land of immigrants.”

In addition to singing, the young students use their entire bodies to learn about the elements of music such as rhythm, beat, and dynamics. Every day they can be seen clapping, marching, jumping, or swaying to the music.

Students learn to read and sing using a system of notation called solfège where syllables are assigned to notes (do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do). The children sing the notes and learn to recognize them on the lines and spaces of the staff and incorporate more complex rhythm patterns and meters as they get older.

In keeping with the methodology of Kodály, Erasmia believes that singing should precede instrumental learning.

Second Graders thrill to the beat played on various percussion instruments – drums and xylophones – and

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perform in the Rhythm Ensemble, their first organized ensemble experience. Third Graders begin playing the recorder, playing traditional Native American melodies that tie in with their classroom studies of those cultures. Each spring, they join the Second Graders during Instrumental Music Night to round out the Lower School Philharmonic.

Fourth Graders are the last students to work with Erasmia. They continue their recorder studies in “minis,” very small groups which meet once a week. They play folk tunes, many in Arabic scales to complement their Egyptian curriculum, and many short, classical pieces as well. They often perform at the Medieval Feast as traveling troubadours and during the Greek Feast playing Greek folk tunes.

Through these diverse musical experiences, Erasmia is preparing her young students for the rich, sophisticated, formal music that is taught in the upper grades.

Every day they can be seen clapping, marching, jumping, or swaying to the music.

Music education In upper Schools

Every child graduating from Far Brook leaves with the gift of fluency in the language of music. Director of Music Allen Artz’s underlying focus through the years is teaching the students to read music. As in literature, where our children learn to read before understanding the great models like Shakespeare, they learn the subtleties of the language of music.

The music curriculum is based on the college text Materials of Music. Mr. Artz likens a student’s musical journey to the construction of a house. First, you need a foundation – that is rhythm. Next, you “hang the melody” by learning notation on the staff – the note names and pitch. Then you “flesh it out” with the harmony – the walls and roof of the house. When the structure is secure, you add expression, the decoration – the dynamics, articulation, and tempo. This is learned (built) slowly over the years through hard work and repetition. Mr. Artz maintains the big picture, the complete house, as well as the details, in mind at all times.

Beginning in Fourth Grade, the students learn music theory with Mr. Artz, which becomes more complex as the years progress. They sing together in Choir, and in Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grades, in Group. The children learn to make connections between what they hear and what they see on a music score, and through “ear training,”

Mr. Artz hones their listening skills until they can discern musical intervals. Students learn through reading and sightsinging to see the patterns that create beautiful music.

Once they understand that music is built on patterns, they can easily recognize a fifth and more complex notation.

They all sing the divine music of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater for the Far Brook community in the spring.

Every child graduating from Far Brook leaves with the gift of fluency in the language of music.

In Eighth Grade, the concluding project of the Far Brook musical education is the handbell “mini.” Each student plays two or three bells; one bell sounding one note. With Mr. Artz’s direction, the eight or nine musicians in the class use their cumulative knowledge to decode the music to create lovely melodies together.

These years of focus on reading and understanding, and on practicing skills and finesse, result in a lifelong appreciation of music.

STEPPING INTO THE CLASSROOMS / 17

In The Woodshop

Chris Murphy’s woodshop studio, lined with hanging saws, hammers, drills, metal files, and goggles, is a classroom for Nursery through Eighth Graders. Most students work with wood, creating age-appropriate projects from simple boats to toys with movable parts and diploma frames with precisely mitered corners.

Chris introduced several new projects this past year.

Through a design thinking program, the Third Graders’ challenge was to redesign the playground. They were asked to draw their concepts of the playground equipment of their dreams, and then to build wooden models of them. Fifth Graders made “light sources,” which Chris refrained from calling lamps because that nomenclature could confine their imaginations! Students were given a small cordless light and were expected to think about, and solve the questions of, the direction and diffusion of light in their final projects. A model of a cottage with light pouring through its windows and a two-foot lighthouse exemplify a few of their constructs.

New to Far Brook last year was the MakerBot Replicator2, a 3D printer made possible by a grant from the Faculty Endowment Fund and a generous gift from a grandparent. This exciting new technology enables students to design objects on laptops using the TinkerCAD program. By choosing shapes, resizing, and manipulating

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them on the screen, students learn to build a complex object and then to have it printed in three-dimensional plastic! The process of printing one thin layer at a time takes around one and a half hours for the small objects they have been designing. Last year, Sixth Graders created mini, usable wind turbines and tested them to record their speed. This year, Seventh Graders designed chess sets with competing themes, like winter vs. summer, healthy food vs. junk food, and birds vs. walking animals.

Chris encourages his students to focus on the design aspect of their choice of projects with the overarching goal of the completion of a process – not solely to make something they can take home, but to think about its design, test it, and learn how to improve upon it.

NEW TO FAR BROOK LAST YEAR WAS THE MAKERBOT REPLICATOR 2, A 3D PRINTER...…

…

EVENTS / 19

THANK YOU DONORS! THE 2013-2014 ANNUAL FUND RAISED $500,724.

SIMPLE GIFTS

CAN BE EXTRAORDINARY Over the years, we have been the proud recipient of bequests from members of our community who hold Far Brook so close to their hearts. As a way to recognize and encourage planned gifts to this extraordinary School and community, Far Brook initiated The Simple Gifts Society to highlight how easy it is to create such a gift, as it provides significant funds for the Endowment and for Far Brook’s future. More recently, we have been pleased to learn of those who included Far Brook in their estate plans many years ago. We encourage you to do the same!

A bequest is the simplest way to do this, by specifying a gift amount or percentage from your estate. You can be included in future planned giving lists for creating such a gift or you can remain anonymous. There are other ways to direct planned gifts to Far Brook as well.

Mary Sue Fisher, Chair of the Simple Gifts Society, remarked, “Although there are many ways to support Far Brook, planned giving is an effective and convenient way to help the School in years to come.” Bequests are vital to increasing Far Brook’s Endowment and ensuring that the School is here for generations, long into the future.

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We are so appreciative for the support of our Current Parents, Alumni, Alumni Families, and Faculty and Administration. Far Brook is truly a Community of Giving!

TRIBUTE GIFTS

SIMPLE AND SIGNIFICANT Tribute gifts are a simple and significant way to express joy or sorrow for events in the lives of relatives and friends – in honor of a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or other special occasion, or in memory of a loved one.

To make a Tribute gift, advise the Development Office of the type of gift and the name and address where you would like the acknowledgment card to be sent. You may make your gift by mail, at Far Brook’s website, www.farbrook.org, or by calling. Please contact the Development Office, 973-379-3442, for more information.

Far Brook will send an acknowledgment card to the person(s) indicated, including a message of your choice.

The amount, of course, will not be disclosed. Contributions are tax-deductible.

Tribute funds, unless directed otherwise by the donor, are added to Far Brook’s Endowment.

Accreditation Update During the 2013-2014 school year, Far Brook received dual accreditation from the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (NJAIS) and from the Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA). As accredited members of these two organizations, Far Brook places itself among the most wellregarded independent schools both in New Jersey and throughout the country.

CAROLYN DORFMAN DANCE A DAY OF DANCE

In March, Far Brook students communicated without words, tuned their “instruments� (bodies), and stretched their imaginations with the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company. Alumni parent, internationally celebrated choreographer, and master artist/teacher Carolyn Dorfman and her company of eleven contemporary dancers provided an inspirational experience for all Far Brook students. The day was made possible by the Fredda S. Leff Special Projects Endowment.

DEVELOPMENT / 21

CLASS

OF

2014

Here they are, members of the Class of 2014, dressed in costume for this year’s graduation play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The majority of these students began in Far Brook’s Nursery or Kindergarten, and many joined in later years. They all say they will cherish Far Brook’s Traditions, especially Morning Meeting and the Thanksgiving Processional, and the supportive sense of community. We wish them success in the years to come, knowing that they have received the best education an elementary school can offer.

5 RECENT ALUMNI - THE CLASS OF 2014, IN COSTUME FOR A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

L EFT TO RIGHT BACK ROW: Ellie Reinhardt, Ben Aronson, Jesse Cross, Hallie Schwartzstein, Jack Goodman, Joey Fazio

LEFT TO RIGHT MIDDLE ROW: Audra Wagner-Carlberg, Myla Stovall, Katherine Stevens, Magda Kligerman, Zoe Gonzalez, Joey D’Angelo LEFT TO RIGHT FRONT ROW: Ben Lee, Adebisi Adetoye, Isabel Giordano, Andy Portes, Alexandra Dumas, Ryan Hinton, Renée Reiter, Drew Sokolowski

5 Seventh Graders donated 20 Gold Key Legacy books to the Segal Family Library in honor of every graduating Eighth Grader. All selections were made from a list compiled by the Class of 2014.

This program connects past, present, and future generations of Far Brook students through their passion and love of learning.

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ADEBISI ADETOYE joined the class in Sixth Grade and appreciates feeling part of the Far Brook family where everyone looks out for one another. Bisi played Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and will attend Newark Academy in the fall.

MAGDALEN KLIGERMAN was Peter Quince in the graduation play. Magda liked the “lack of hallways” at Far Brook and the close relationships she had with her teachers. Her favorite memory is of the Kindergarten trip to the zoo! Columbia High School is her next school.

BENJAMIN ARONSON came to Far Brook in the Fifth Grade and is going to miss being on the baseball team and practicing on the sports field with his friends. His favorite memory is going to Montréal and Québec on the Junior High trips. Ben shared the roles of Demetrius and Cobweb in June and will be a freshman at Columbia High School this September.

BENJAMIN LEE thinks that what he will miss most is all of the School Traditions that make Far Brook unique and remembers when he was an angel in The Masque as a Sixth Grader. Ben played Oberon, the fairy king, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and will be at Millburn High School in the fall and beyond.

JESSE CROSS also entered his class as a Sixth Grader and got to be the mischievous Puck in the play. His favorite memories of Far Brook are eating outside for lunch and travelling to Montreal. Rutgers Preparatory School is where you will find him for the next four years.

JOSEPH D’ANGELO has attended Far Brook since the First Grade and was Flute, the bellow’s mender, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Joey will miss the community setting and taking part in Traditions like Morning Meeting and Stabat. He will also miss his friends and the close faculty that prepared him “in so many ways,” including teaching him calligraphy this year. He will attend Oratory Preparatory School in September.

ALEXANDRA DUMAS began her Far Brook years in Fifth Grade and was cast as Hippolyta in the play. She will miss being on the lacrosse and field hockey teams with her classmates and loved the Junior High trip to Montréal. Alexandra is off to Morristown-Beard School.

JOSEPH FAZIO played the part of Egeus in June. He liked the sense of community and family bond he had with his classmates and everyone on the campus. After 10 years here, he recalls his favorite project from Nursery days – a cardboard owl made with classmate Hallie Schwartzstein. Joey will attend Morristown-Beard School next.

ISABEL GIORDANO shared two roles, Hermia and Peaseblossom, in June’s performance. She felt comfortable with her peers and her community and will miss the Far Brook Traditions. Her favorite memory is the trip to Montréal where she experienced bonding with her classmates “in a whole new place.” The Pingry School is Isabel’s next stop.

ZOE GONZALEZ played Nick Bottom in the June performance.

Zoe said she will cherish every smile and every laugh she experienced during her 10 years as part of Far Brook’s tightly knit community. One recent memory was staying up until two in the morning to create a 3D hologram with Adebisi. Zoe will attend Columbia High School in the fall.

JACK GOODMAN’s roles in the play were Lysander and Moth.

He says he is partial to Far Book’s Traditions, especially Thanksgiving Processional. He has fond memories of going to Pok-O-MacCready Camp and to Québec. Field Day is also “in there” as top events. Jack is off to Morristown-Beard School in the fall.

RYAN HINTON joined the class in Fifth Grade and played Theseus in June’s play. He will miss being with all of his classmates in and out of school. One of his favorite Far Brook moments was the Eighth Grade sleepover at School. Ryan plans to go to Orange High School in September.

ANDRES PORTES entered Far Brook in the Sixth Grade and shared the roles of Lysander and Moth in the graduation play with Jack. The family-like community is what Andy talks about and he singles out the Thanksgiving Processional and Stabat as favorite Traditions. He remembers always leaving Morning Meeting with a relaxing feeling and a smile. Andy will be attending Oratory Preparatory School.

ELEANOR REINHARDT also joined the class in the Sixth Grade and played Helena and Mustardseed in June. Ellie said she will miss singing every day in Morning Meeting and in the choral concerts. And of course, she will miss her classmates. Ellie remembers her first day of school, when she and fellow newcomer, Adebisi, got lost on campus!

This September, Ellie will be attending Morristown-Beard School.

RENÉE REITER has been at Far Brook for nine years. She and Ellie shared in the roles of Helena and Mustardseed, one of the fairies.

Renée focused on the major part Far Brook has played in her life and will miss the campus, teachers, community, and Traditions. Renée will also be entering Morristown-Beard School’s freshman class.

HALLIE SCHWARTZSTEIN shared the roles of Hermia and Peaseblossom with Isabel. Hallie loved taking part in the Thanksgiving Processional where students are paired with children of other grades and sing beautiful music together. Among many memories of projects made through the years since Nursery, Hallie recalls sewing a penguin in Kindergarten. She will be attending Morristown-Beard School in the fall.

ANDREW SOKOLOWSKI has been at Far Brook since the Fourth Grade, and shared the roles of Demetrius and Cobweb with Ben Aronson. Drew considers everybody at Far Brook “so nice” and remembers when his Processional partner told him that he ate a bear!

Drew will be entering Morristown-Beard School in September.

KATHERINE STEVENS began her Far Brook years in Nursery, and Snout, the tinker, was her part in the play. She will miss her teachers and seeing “all the little kids” everyday. Some of her favorite memories are of the Third Grade High Tea and the Medieval Feast in Kindergarten and again in the Sixth Grade. Katherine will also enter the freshman class at Morristown-Beard School in the fall.

MYLA STOVALL played Snug, the joiner, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She said she will miss all the unique Traditions: the Processional, Morning Meeting, the graduation play and sports day. Myla loved interacting with everyone, from Nursery students to the teachers.

She began here as a Kindergartner and will be at The Pingry School in September.

AUDRA WAGNER-CARLBERG has also been here for 10 years and was Robin Starveling, the tailor, in the play. She thinks about being on the same campus as the youngest students and seeing them every day. She remembers making costumes for the Medieval Feast in Kindergarten with her Sixth Grade partner. Audra will be at Newark Academy in the fall.

CLASS OF 2014 / 23

ALUMNI REUNION May 4, 2014

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1 – Alumni Watching Slide Show 2 – Liz Burke ’93 and Daughter 3 – Members of the Class of 2013 4–N icole Fabian Engelke’88 and Her Sister Melissa Fabian Friedman ‘90

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5 – Erasmia Voukelatos led the Sing-Along.

6 – Welcome Table 7 – Liz Plotkin Keil ’93 with Her Daughter 8 – Alumni Eating Donuts on a String 9–A dam Abrahams, Adam Plotkin ’92, Gordon Keil, Charlie Oransky, and a Student at the Ice Cream Truck 10 – K athryn McRae with Charlie Miller ’81, Gill Sawhney ‘80 and Son 11 – Jeanne Goetz with 2012 Alumni Kai Taylor, Lauren Burr, and Ming Goetz 12 – Alice Doherty Shaber ’55 and Her Family 13 – Nancy McIntyre and Claire Miller

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14 – Craig deLaurier with Bess Oransky ’92, Their Boys, and Her Parents, Dee Hellring and Charlie Oransky

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ALUMNI REUNION / 25

ALUMNI NEWS SHARE YOUR ALUMNI NEWS! Graduation, wedding, birth, promotion, anniversary, award, or retirement?

Submit news of your major life events via email at alumni@farbrook.org.

Friend us on facebook.com/farbrookalumni

1971

publishing startup that rescues out-of-print, vintage genre books and “ebookifies” them. Ash and Jessica live in Brooklyn.

DAVID VON SALIS

Joe Baker ’62 received Drew University’s Alumni Service Award.

1962

5JOE BAKER Attended: Morristown-Beard School ’65; Drew University ’69 Joe, a former Far Brook trustee and active alumnus, recently received the Drew University Alumni Service Award. The award recognizes his outstanding character and exceptional and sustained loyalty to Drew by making significant contributions to furthering the university’s mission and goals.

1967

ROBERT JOHNSON Attended: Holderness School; Union College; Pratt Institute Robert is a senior electrical engineer at City Theatrical in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and is designing LED dimmers and wireless lighting controllers for the theatrical and architectural industries. A most interesting project of his involves an archeological investigation to locate the crash site of Max Miller, a famous airmail pilot, with the help of Rutgers students from their Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

26 / ALUMNI NEWS

Attended: Bethany College ’78; The Drama Studio ’79; Benedict Language and Business School ’80; Ohio University ’82 David is a freelance theater carpenter and used his expertise creating sets for Broadway’s Peter and the Starcatcher, and television’s “Seth Meyers” and “Live with Kelly and Michael.”

1976

HELEN NEUMANN Attended: University of California, Berkeley ’84; Pacific College of Oriental Medicine ’05; Institute of Integrative Nutrition A licensed acupuncturist, Helen provides private treatments at Vineyard Complementary Medicine in West Tisbury, Massachusetts, and is the clinical coordinator of the Acupuncture Community Clinic where she provides free acupuncture for veterans, active-duty fire fighters, and police officers. She specializes in herbal treatments for Lyme disease, sports injury acupuncture, and nutritional counseling.

Previously, she worked for Acupuncturists Without Borders.

BESS ORANSKY

Tim ’89, Olivia, and Christian Shoaf

Attended: The Pingry School ’96; Yale University ’00 Andrew Seth deLaurier was born on May 28, 2014, to Bess and her husband, Craig deLaurier. Andrew joins siblings Samuel (age 4) and Eli (age 2). Congratulations to them all!

1989

1993

Attended: St. George’s School ’94; Colorado College ’98 Congratulations to Tim and Olivia on the birth of Christian Eastman on November 2, 2013. Tim is the materials manager for Timbuk2 Designs. They manufacture “tough-as-hell” messenger bags, travel bags, backpacks, and accessories. The family lives in San Francisco.

Attended: Madison High School ’97; Smith College Liz works for the public defender’s office and is actively involved in Far Brook life. She thinks it’s wonderful to watch her son, Alexander ’21, at school here and her daughter, Eleanor, will join the Nursery in September. Liz has also reconnected with 1993 alumnae Becca Wildman Repetti and Elizabeth Plotkin Keil. The Burke-Lacy family of five lives in Millburn.

5TIMOTHY SHOAF

1992

ASHUR KALB Attended: Pittsford Mendon High School ’96; Cornell University ’00; Columbia Law School ’03 Best wishes to Ash and Jessica Elizabeth Cole (aka Cici James) who were wed on October 26, 2013, at the Romanesque Revivaldesigned Down Town Association in lower Manhattan. Ash is co-founder and COO/general counsel for White Ops, an internet security company with offices in New York City, San Francisco, and British Columbia.

He is also the founder of Singularity & Co., a science fiction bookstore in Brooklyn and an innovative and successful

ELIZABETH BURKE

NOAH LEVIN Attended: Livingston High School ‘97, University of Michigan ‘01, Lewis & Clark Law School A new addition was born to the Levin family. Rowan Stephen was born to Noah and his wife, Cay Yanca, on October 24, 2013. Daughter, Calla, is now three. Noah is a practicing environmental attorney in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the family lives. Congratulations to all, including grandmother, Far Brook’s Director of Lower School, Paula Levin.

Rebecca Wildman Repetti ’93 with Son Nathan

1996 Alumna Whitney Brown’s New Horse, Juniper

5REBECCA WILDMAN REPETTI

1996

Attended: Millburn High School ’97; Barnard College ’01, Columbia University School of Nursing Becca continues to work as a nurse practitioner at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and is excited that her son, Nathan, will be entering Far Brook’s Nursery in September.

Becca, her husband, Mike, and son, Eliot (who will be two in October), live in Maplewood.

Attended: Montclair Kimberley Academy ’00; Kenyon College ’04; Auburn University ’06; Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine ’11 Whitney is currently working at a private equine general practice in Poulsbo, Washington, across the Puget Sound from Seattle. She is happy to announce the birth of Juniper, her first “baby horse” on April 24, 2014.

5WHITNEY BROWN

BELLE KOVEN

Attended: Sieshiri International School; Dartmouth College ’04 Tomoko started as an assistant in the Barney’s New York fashion office out of college and now she’s the senior fashion director.

They are “always trying to find new, cool things, or developing special projects, working with designers on exclusives and helping to nurture and develop their businesses.”

Attended: Montclair Kimberley Academy ’02; Harvard University ’06; University of Southern California ’12 Belle is the data acquisition manager for HERE, the mapping division of Nokia in Berkeley, California. It provides the data that drives most in-car navigation systems and all Garmin units.

Belle lives in Emeryville, California.

She organized a reunion of her classmates this winter at her mom’s house in Upper Montclair.

Attendees were Abby Zackin, Amanda Richardson, Ariel Seeley, Ashley Inserra, Jacob Appel, and Rachel Alliston.

1997

ELIZABETH PAGOS CHAPARRO Attended: Newark Academy ’01; Mt. Holyoke College ’05; Simmons College Elizabeth is currently living in Salem, Massachusetts, with her husband Sergio Chaparro, whom she married in September 2011.

She was hired as the circulation manager of the Lynnfield Public Library in August 2011, where she is still employed full time.

1998

4HEATHER KEIL STERN

1995

Attended: The Pingry School ’02; University of Pennsylvania ’06 Congratulations to Heather and her husband, Eric Stern, who were wed on September 1, 2013.

4JARETT KAPLUS Attended: The Pingry School ’99; Georgetown University ’03; New York University Schack Real Estate School ’06 Three boys were born to Jarett and his wife, Lauren, on January 13, 2014 – Noah, Jarett, Jr., and Samuel. Jarett is now a principal at Admiral Capital Group a real estate investment firm in New York.

TOMOKO OGURA

Jarett Kaplus ’93 with Wife, Lauren, and Their Triplets, Samuel, Jarett Jr., and Noah

1999

LAUREN ANDERSON Attended: Newark Academy ’03; Brown University ’07; New York University Stern School of Business Lauren received her MBA and works with a non-profit fundraising and development consultancy called CCS Fundraising. She works and lives in New York City.

Heather Keil ’98 married Eric Stern.

ALUMNI NEWS / 27

ALUMNI NEWS CONTINUED

HEATHER PODVEY

KATHRYN PAGOS

Attended: Newark Academy ’03; Muhlenberg College ’07; New York University ’09 Congratulations to Heather and Daniel Asip who were married on August 3, 2013, in Montclair followed by a reception at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell. Far Brook alumni in attendance were Heather’s sister, Sarah ’95, the maid of honor, and Lauren ’99 and Deborah Anderson ’03. Heather is an elementary school counselor in New Jersey, and Daniel, who also attended Muhlenberg, is currently working for Madison Square Garden.

Attended: Newark Academy ’04; Tufts University ’08 Katie is living in Long Island City, New York, and has been working as the director of client services for Greater Talent Network, Inc. in Manhattan for the past five years.

After prolonged training, Katie ran in her third half marathon in Brooklyn in May. Patrick Corrigan proposed to Devon McIntyre ’02 in October 2013.

5DEVON MCINTYRE

Emily Abramowitz Adam ’02 with Justin and Brooke.

2002

5EMILY ABRAMOWITZ ADAM Katie and Torrie Pagos ‘00

2000

5VICTORIA PAGOS Attended: Lawrenceville School ’04; Carnegie Mellon University ’08; Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University ’13 Torrie will be clerking in Newark for the Honorable Dennis F. Carey, III, the presiding judge of the Civil Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey - Essex Vicinage until the end of August 2014. She currently lives in Manhattan.

28 / ALUMNI NEWS

Attended: Kent Place School ’06; Gettysburg College ’10 Emily, her husband, Justin, and two-year-old daughter, Brooke, recently moved into their first house in Allamuchy, New Jersey.

Emily currently works at Tronex International, Inc., a leading global brand and innovator of personal protective equipment.

She wears many hats within the company supporting departments including customer service, national account support, and human resources.

Attended: Kent Place School ’06; Colby College ’10 Congratulations to Devon and Patrick Corrigan who announced their engagement in October 2013 and have set the date for their wedding on September 12, 2015. They will be wed on Cape Cod where Pat’s family has a beach house. Devon is living in Philadelphia with Pat and their dog, Calvin, while attending Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden.

at a solo exhibition entitled “Variation and Transformation” at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York City in February 2014. In April, her work was featured in Fresh Paint Magazine and was in another solo exhibition at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, from the end of March through June. Also in June, two of her works were included in Studio Montclair’s 17th Annual Juried Exhibition “Viewpoints 2014” in Newark, New Jersey. Katia lives in Philadelphia.

2004

NICHOLAS BAUER Attended: Glen Ridge High School ’08; Juniata College ’12 Congratulations to Nick and his bride, Erika Brown, from Hollidaysburg, Minnesota. They were married in Stonington, Connecticut, on June 8, 2014.

Nick is a student at the University of Minnesota Medical School and an ensign in the US Navy. The newlyweds reside in Minneapolis.

ZACHARY FILZER Attended: Millburn High School ‘08; Seton Hall University Zach has accepted a teaching job in Thailand. He’s been at Far Brook for three years in the AfterSchool Program and Extended Day Program. Bon voyage!

DUNCAN FISHER Katia Setzer ’02

5KATIA SETZER Attended: Newark Academy ’06; Colby College ’10; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts ’13 After graduating with an MFA, Katia showed her oil paintings

Attended: Newark Academy ’08, Stanford University ’12 Duncan became engaged to Molly McCoy on July 3.

Congratulations to the happy couple! .

Alumni, please include Far Brook School in your bios and LinkedIn profile.

leadership program at Duke University. This program recognizes 18 first-year women whose four-year college experience will include academic seminars, a residential living experience, and internship and mentoring opportunities.

2010

ANNA BALDERSTON Keith Rush ’05

2005

5KEITH RUSH Attended: Millburn High School ’09; University of Pennsylvania ’13 Keith is working on his PhD in math at the University of Wisconsin and completed his last year on the rowing team.

GRACE TOOLAN Attended: Villa Walsh Academy ’09; Bucknell University ’13 Grace is back on campus! Last fall, she joined the Kindergarten teaching staff in the mornings and the admissions staff in the afternoons. She will return full-time in the classrooms this September.

Attended: Hotchkiss School ’14 Anna is off to Claremont McKenna College in southern California, where she will be running cross country and focusing on environment studies, politics, and economics.

LOUIS BARTHOLOMEW Attended: Sidwell Friends School ’14 Louis joins the freshman class at New York University this September. He still loves to debate, compose, and sing.

ELIZABETH KLEIN Attended: Kent Place School ’13 Lizzie has been selected for the Alice M. Baldwin Scholar’s

Attended: Montclair High School ’14 Jesse will enter the freshmen class at the School of Visual Arts in New York City this September, majoring in printmaking.

2011

RYAN JONES Ryan attends Barnstable Academy in Oakland, California, where he is the captain of the varsity soccer team, writes for the school paper, and studies French and Spanish.

A.J. Bernstein ’13, Young Philanthropist

2013

5A.J. BERNSTEIN Many thanks to A.J., for donating a portion of his Bar Mitzvah gift money to Far Brook to purchase new uniforms for the baseball teams. A.J. attends The Pingry School.

Nina Yoshida ’12 loves to dance.

2012

KATE WEINER

2009

JESSE WEINER

September 2013, and is being homeschooled during the evening and on weekends. The program continues throughout high school and beyond.

ROGGI CHUQUIMARCA

2006

Attended: Montclair High School ’10; Syracuse University ’14 Kate has graduated with honors from Syracuse’s School of Visual and Performing Arts majoring in Design Communications.

Championships in March. Kasey will be attending Penn State in the fall and will join the fencing team.

Shane ’14 and Kasey ’10 Accepting Their All-State Awards for Fencing

5KASEY IVERSON Attended: Newark Academy ’14 Kasey was on Newark Academy’s District 3 foil team during her years there. She placed second in girls’ foil at the district level last January 2014 and qualified for the State Individual

5NINA YOSHIDA Nina is pursuing her dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer. The Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet in New York City has accepted her into their unique program which combines classical ballet training with the art of storytelling. Nina withdrew from Kent Place School to take part in the rigorous full day training at GKA in

Roggi represented Delbarton School at the Far Brook School Fair for Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Graders in April after speaking on an alumni panel to families who were in the process of choosing a high school.

SHANE IVERSON Shane, now an incoming sophomore at Newark Academy, captured the District 3 foil champion title in January 2014, advanced with the team to the State Squad Championship in February, and qualified for the State Individual Championships in March. He started fencing at the age of six.

ALUMNI NEWS / 29

FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION NEWS

French teacher Rosemarie Alagia and her husband, Anthony, welcomed Charlotte Rose into the world on August 1, 2013.

Rosemarie took the year off to be with her little one and will return to Far Brook in September.

Jim Benz

5Jim

George Stralkus and F. Allen Artz

5Congratulations to Director of Music

F. Allen Artz and his long-time partner, George Stralkus, who were officially married on November 5, 2013 in the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, where Allen continues as the director of music and organist. Allen also serves as artistic director of Crescent Concerts producing monthly offerings of music, including organ recitals, and as conductor of the Crescent Choral Society. This 45-voice ensemble presents two concerts annually accompanied by an orchestra.

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Benz, director of Upper Schools for 10 years, was named head of school at the Peninsula School in Menlo Park, California, and started his new position on July 1, 2014.

During his years at Far Brook, Jim helped to preserve and refine the philosophy and mission of the School, and helped guide the School through transitions in leadership. He expanded student academic support; directed the redesign of assessment reports; enhanced the Junior High’s socials; initiated the advisory program, Opportunity Period, and parentteacher conferences in the Junior High; and expanded special days for Junior High students during parent-teacher conferences and during teacher-student report reading days.

Jim is especially proud that he brought the Connections program with him from Seattle Academy to the Middle School and Junior High students. Connections is a social and emotional awareness program designed for adolescents.

Jim also expanded the school-wide service learning program, increasing opportunities for students to interact with the broader community. Fresh produce, which has been collected at the Thanksgiving Processional and donated to Isaiah House’s food pantry for years, is now complemented by nonperishable food items. Far Brook students have also participated in emergency drives for coats, furniture, and household goods for alumni parent Roger Hinton’s Family Assistance Resource Center in Orange.

Jim has enjoyed having a leadership role in the School and working with the heads of school, faculty, and students. Jim was able to experience the Far Brook education from the parent perspective as well; his daughter, Chloe, graduated in 2013. With all this insight, Jim has a wonderful career opportunity ahead of him.

Joan Burr joined the Development Office as communications coordinator, managing the website and sharing school news via publications and other communications. Joan, mom of Lauren ‘12, has long been a familiar face around campus, previously filling in when needed in the library and at the front desk, and bringing valuable experience and knowledge to her new role.

Sally Adams Chernoff ’57

Heather Chaffin ’92

Nicole Fabian Engelke ’88

5Sally Adams Chernoff ’57, Junior High math and science teacher, retired in 2013 and was honored for her 30-year tenure during Morning Meeting on January 29, 2014. Moore Hall was filled to capacity with students, alumni, alumni parents, current and former faculty, and a large family contingency.

It’s no secret that Sally has Far Brook running through her veins – she was practically born here! Her mother, Mary Adams, taught here for 30 years. Sally began kindergarten at Buxton Country Day School (Far Brook’s predecessor) and remembers when Far Brook was chosen as the School’s new name. After college and other life changes, Sally eventually moved back to Short Hills. When her son, Brian ’93, was Nursery age, Sally was invited to join the Far Brook faculty while her mother was still on the faculty. Two years later her son, Mike ’95, entered Nursery. Sally’s Far Brook journey was chronicled in the December 2013 Bulletin (available at www.farbrook.org). She is now sharing her love of learning with her four children and six grandchildren, who live in Brooklyn, Cleveland, Chicago, and Washington, DC.

5Heather

5We congratulate Nicole

Chaffin ’92, a staff member at Far Brook since 2001, has taken the position of educational director with BIC. Her new job entails travel, domestically and to Canada and France, giving Heather the opportunity to use her bilingual skills. Heather’s wide range of roles during her 13 years at Far Brook included assistant teaching in the Second and Fourth Grades, and working in the Admissions office in the afternoons. Heather had worked in technology since 2004, and most recently, in the Development office in the role of communications coordinator and as Co-chair of the Accreditation Steering Committee with Ed Solecki.

Science teacher and Director of Sustainability

Mike Chodroff serves as Communications Director of the Association for New Jersey Environmental Educations (ANJEE ), and was a presenter at their January conference, as well as at the NJAIS Sustainability Workshop in April.

Fabian Engelke ’88, who assumes the role of director of Upper Schools (Grades 4-8). Nicole has been at Far Brook five years, teaching Third and Fourth Grades, serving as Upper Schools learning specialist, and most recently, working as director of Upper Schools faculty and academic support. Nicole returned to Far Brook in 2009 after teaching in independent schools in New Jersey and New York City. She and her husband Mark are the parents of Alec ’22 and Will ’19.

On May 12, 2014, Director of Drama James Glossman directed a reading of Jay O. Sanders’ Unexplored Interior at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. Honed through a series of workshops and readings, the powerful, moving play, featuring a cast of 15 international actors, commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and was simultaneously seen at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Rwanda. Jim has also been a lecturer on directing and Shakespeare in the Theater Arts and Studies program at Johns Hopkins University.

FACULTY NEWS / 31

FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION NEWS CONTINUED

Linda Katz leaves her post as Kindergarten

Nancy Ring, First Grade associate teacher for 10 years, moves to Seth Boyden elementary school, as art teacher. Nancy shared her love of art through our core curriculum Patterns, and her passion for art has always been apparent as she worked with our young students. Recently, Nancy successfully ran the art studio for two months while Nancy McIntyre was on medical leave.

assistant teacher to teach seventh grade English at Gill St. Bernard’s School.

After 8 years teaching Fifth Grade and running Far Brook’s Girls Learn International (GLI) chapter, teacher and alumni parent Ellen

Maddrey has decided to embark on new adventures. She plans to spend time with her family in Seattle and to travel - perhaps to visit her daughters, Hannah, who is in the Peace Corps in Swaziland, and Sara ’10 at Skidmore College. While at Far Brook, she “had the freedom to develop a curriculum that taught children how to interact with each other; to have respectful discussions and build ideas; to express their feelings and thoughts through multiple genres of writing; to find joy and excitement in reading; and to hunger for information about their world through history, literature, and other cultures.” We wish Ellen all the best.

Art teacher Nancy McIntyre has been working on large watercolor pieces in preparation for a future show. Her highly energetic, colorful paintings have depth and movement, created by shading and overlapping shapes, and are inspired by her First Grade students who also work in watercolors.

Lower School science teacher JoAnn Nancy Muniz and Judy Hnat

5Director of Athletics Nancy

Muniz

and her partner of 10 years, Judy Hnat, were married at their home in Hunterdon County on December 27, 2013. The civil ceremony was held in front of their Christmas tree and was attended by their parents; Betty Melville, and Connie and Peter Hnat. The couple met at Far Brook in 2000 when Judy began work as technology coordinator. All happiness to them.

32 / FACULTY NEWS

Jhanae Wingfield moves on to work at Newark Educator’s Community Charter School after five years at Far Brook as a Kindergarten and Fifth Grade associate teacher and this past year as a Third Grade co-teacher.

This August, Chris Murphy, woodshop teacher, was a presenter at NYSAIS’ STEAM Camp (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math), where individuals and school teams from all disciplines work together in design thinking to explore and develop new ideas and plans for the year ahead.

3Best wishes to math teacher Rob Olazagasti, partner Lew Breckenridge, and their daughter Ava ’24, who welcomed baby Margot Josephine to their family on March 17, 2014.

Margot Josephine Breckenridge

Tutino happily announces the birth of her granddaughter, Charlotte Rose McCloskey, on May 27, 2014. Laura and Kyle McCloskey and baby Charlotte live in Oakton, Virginia.

Deborah Wraight and Rafael Coasta

5Congratulations to technology specialist Deborah Wraight and Rafael Costa who were engaged on February 21, 2014. Rafael surprised Deborah with flowers, candles, and a table set for two during renovation of their new home. A wedding in Tuscany is planned for July 2015. Buona fortuna!

WE REMEMBER

MARY “MIMI” MORIN

CAROL FERRISE

August 30, 2013 Alumni Parent Mary Morin came from Summit, NJ, attended Wells College, graduated magna cum laude from Drew University with a BA in economics, and earned a master’s degree in clinical social work from Rutgers. After attending the New York Center for Psychiatric Training, Mary served in hospitals and county mental health clinics as well as conducting a private practice.

Mary and her husband, Edward, raised their children in Chatham, NJ, and lived in Rome, the Netherlands, and London as members of Exxon’s “foreign legion.” She passed away while living in Maine. Survivors include her children, Edward ’65, Constance ’69, and Elinore ’75; and three grandchildren.

November 18, 2013 Alumni Parent Carol Ferrise received her BA and MA in elementary education from Kean University and began her teaching career in the Belleville and Newark school systems. She was a dedicated teacher and a member of several organizations and committees.

Carol is survived by her husband, Frank; and predeceased by her son, David ’96.

EILEEN BARRY October 14, 2013 Alumni Parent Eileen Barry attended Saint Vincent’s Hospital School of Nursing and spent her working years as a registered nurse. She was especially proud of her Irish heritage. Eileen is survived by her sons, John ’73, Tim ’74, Dan, Joe and Kevin; 5 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

JAMES HOWARD FRASER November 25, 2013 Alumni Parent James Fraser earned his Doctorate of Library Science from Columbia University. He worked in and with academic and research libraries as a librarian and consultant and wrote on broadly diverse topics. As library director at Fairleigh Dickinson University, editor of Phaedrus, author and contributor to numerous books and articles, James inspired students, scholars, artists, and friends. James is survived by his wife, Sibylle; and his children, Stephen ’73 and Caitlin ’78.

ADAM ROBERT GREENE ’76 December 22, 2013 Adam Greene earned his first BA degree from the University of Massachusetts, continued on to receive a BA in fine arts from the California Institute of the Arts, and then an MA from the Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers. He was a Madison, NJ, resident for 30 years and the rooms of his home were covered with his art. He loved to sing as loudly as possible, to read to small children, to help people in need, and often gave gifts of art.

Adam is survived by his mother, Judith; his sister, Elizabeth; and his brother, Jay.

DOROTHEA MOONEY Former Teacher and Alumni Parent Dorothea Mooney was a Far Brook Nursery assistant and girls’ sports teacher from 1952-59.

Her last place of residence was Knoxville, Tennessee. Her son, Richard Holden, was a member of the class of 1957.

DR. LAWRENCE MILLER March 2, 2014 Alumni Parent and Former Board Member (1970-71) Larry Miller was born in Brooklyn and attended the University of Tulsa and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

He served as chief of orthopedic surgery at West Essex General Hospital, then at Memorial General before adding psychiatry to his life’s work in 1976. Larry became the head of psychiatry at the criminal justice department of the Middlesex County Jail.

He also lectured throughout NJ, hosted several radio programs, and wrote King of the Hill. Larry and his family have had a longtime relationship with Far Brook and have been enthusiastic supporters. He is survived by his wife, Diane; his children, Jeffrey ’74, Noah ’75, Jenifer ’77, and Charlie ’81 and his wife Far Brook teacher Mona Boewe; and 11 grandchildren including Rachael Miller ’08, Brian Miller ’12, Erin Schwartzstein ’09, Grace Schwartzstein ’11, Hallie Schwartzstein ’14, and current students Cole Miller ’21, and Quinn Miller ’22.

WE REMEMBER / 33

WE REMEMBER CONTINUED

ROBERT MILLER III

ELIZABETH HUGHES

March 10, 2014 Current Parent Bob Miller was born in Washington, DC and studied architecture at the University of Virginia and at Princeton University. He was the co-founder of Miller & Wright Architects, a New York City firm that has designed awardwinning homes, clubs, schools, and churches. His work also appeared in numerous publications including Architectural Digest, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He was most proud of his design of the St. Coletta School in Washington, DC. He was active in Far Brook events and loved to attend the class plays. Bob is survived by his wife, Grace; four daughters, Eve ’16, Margot ’17, Elizabeth “Lily b” ’19, and Frances “Poppy;” his sisters, Emily Bruun and Jennifer Anderson; his brother, Robert Anderson; and his parents, Daniel and Margot Anderson.

May 5, 2014 Alumni Parent Betty Hughes was a graduate of the Mills College of Education, formerly of New York City. Throughout her life, she always thought that community involvement, locally and statewide, was of foremost importance. Betty served on the League of Women Voters, the New Jersey Board of Transportation, Head Start, and with Habitat for Humanity.

The Hughes family has a long and valued history with Far Brook. Betty spearheaded the fundraising effort in the 1950s to create our current sports field, among a number of other volunteer activities, and was married to the late James Hughes (Jim), a former Far Brook trustee and president of the Board from 1958 to 1963. She is survived by her son, Jay ’56; her daughters, Elisabeth Templeton ’63 and Barbara Gibson ’65; 15 grandchildren; 27 greatgrandchildren; and was predeceased by her son, Peter ’59.

34 / WE REMEMBER

MICHAEL CLARKE PATTON June 20, 2014 Alumni Parent Mike Patton was born in Salt Lake City, UT, and graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a BA in engineering and the University of Utah with a BS in meteorology.

After flying as an Air Force captain during the Vietnam war, he graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology with an MA in architecture. Mike worked as a structural specialist for FEMA in many states, helping families and businesses get back on their feet after natural disasters. A devoted father, Mike was also an avid sailor, golfer, and Denver Broncos fan. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia Zimpfer; his children, Annabelle ’10, Michael Casey, and Donovan; his father, Lyle Patton; two sisters Robin Angela-Arkell and Susan Patton; and five grandchildren.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2010, WHO WILL BE ATTENDING THE FOLLOWING COLLEGES THIS FALL:

Louis Bartholomew.........................New York University Griffin Burrough..............................Kenyon College Mack (Robert) Craighead................ University of British Columbia Sydney Giordano............................University of Miami Harrison Glatt..................................Union College Denver Hinton................................. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Kasey Iverson.................................. Pennsylvania State University

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Rafeya Rahman...............................Rutgers University

Chris Burns Carmine Fanelle Mary Sue Fisher Kate Hewitt Anne-Marie Kim Tom Kligerman Leah Kronthal Marybeth Leithead Krissy Mannello Elyse Post ’78 Christine Susko Bradford Wiley, II ’54

Kara Stevens....................................New York University

ADMINISTRATION

Josh Lee...........................................Connecticut College Teddy Leithead................................Dartmouth College Sarah Maddrey................................Skidmore College Ethan Marks....................................University of Vermont Tyler Park.........................................Georgetown University Annabelle Patton............................University of Denver

Abigail Tizzio...................................Marist College Noah Verzani...................................Bowdoin College Jesse Weiner....................................School of Visual Arts Dan Winkler ....................................Northwestern University Maia Yoshida................................... University of Pennsylvania

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2014, WHO WILL BE ATTENDING

THE FOLLOWING HIGH SCHOOLS THIS FALL: Columbia High School Millburn High School Morristown-Beard School Newark Academy Orange High School Oratory Preparatory School The Pingry School

2014-2015

Tommaso Zanobini, Chair Tony Stovall, Vice Chair Robert Kelly, Treasurer Michelle Swittenberg, Secretary Amy M. Ziebarth, Head of School

2014-2015

Amy M. Ziebarth, Head of School Marcela Figueroa, Executive Assistant/Placement Coordinator Paula Levin, Director of Lower School Nicole Engelke ’88, Director of Upper Schools Admissions Mikki Murphy, Director of Admission, Placement and

Financial Aid Kathy Ike, Admissions Assistant Business Office Donna Chahalis, Director of Business and Finance Janice O’Shea, Accounting Manager Robert Andolina, Systems Administrator Development Suzanne Glatt, Director of Development Caroline L. Sargent, Senior Philanthropic Advisor Jennifer Barba, Director of Communications and Volunteers Peggy Fawcett, Development Associate Joan Burr, Communications Coordinator Stacey Layton, Development Coordinator Front Office Alisha Roig, Office Coordinator Jerilyn Campbell, School Nurse After-School Program Greg Bartiromo, After-School Program Director Mona Boewe, After- School Program Coordinator Facilities Melissa Stampoulis, Kitchen Coordinator Arthur Gannon, Plant Supervisor

Rutgers Preparatory School

WE REMEMBER / 35

52 GREAT HILLS ROAD SHORT HILLS, NJ 07078 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

FAR BROOK SCHOOL

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“ IMAGINE...the Fifth Grade class using design-thinking to build a new bench for the Playground in the new Woodshop…”

– Amy Ziebarth April 24, 2014 Campaign Kick-off Remarks