NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE PAID SOUTHBOROUGH, MA PERMIT NO. 4
FAY
Spring 2014
MAGAZINE
48 Main Street Southborough, MA 01772 Tel: 508.485.0100 Fax: 508.481.7872 www.fayschool.org Return Service Requested Return Postage Guaranteed
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In this issue: Thinking Like a Mathematician Vertical Chess: Alpinist Fabrizio Zangrilli ’88 Remembering Brooks Harlow
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Fay School Magazine
Fay School 48 Main Street Southborough, MA 01772-9106 Phone: 508.485.0100 Fax: 508.481.7872 www.fayschool.org
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Kathryn Gaska Director of Constituent Relations
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Connecting Scholarship and Service: Upper School Service Trips
On multi-day service trips this spring, Upper Schoolers made a difference at home and abroad. 28
I Made That!
What can kids make on their own in our Innovation Lab? The possibilities are endless. 44
Commencement 2014
Photos, awards, and information about our graduates’ secondary school and college destinations.
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Magazine Design Michéle Page Design Communication
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Class Notes
New books by Fay alumni, an innovative career coach, and reflections on the ‘art of nostalgia.’
Photography Tyler Auer Rob Crawford Ellen Harasimowicz Erin Ash Sullivan
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On the inside cover: Signing yearbooks on the Quad.
From Passion to Legislation
Upper School students get concerned about the health of our oceans—and rewrite legislation to make a difference.
Erin Ash Sullivan Editor, Director of Communications
On the cover: Ty Himmel ’21 and Chloe Kim ’22 high-five the Upper Schoolers as they head to the Parkerville fields for the Color Competition. Photo by Erin Ash Sullivan.
The Ultimate Notebook
With handmade pockets, foldout notes, and origami surprises, Lower School notebooks have gone 3D.
Gail Duffney Cirillo Director of Annual Giving
Nicole Casey Stephanie Levine Susan Conti Publications Associates
A New Kind of Mount Olympus
Primary School Librarian Erin McNally describes a first grade mythology project that brought together visual arts, design thinking, and empathy.
Robert J. Gustavson, Jr. Head of School
Rob Crawford Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Alumni Update: Vertical Chess
Alpinist Fabrizio Zangrilli ’88 has taken on the world’s tallest peaks—and scaled K2 seven times—all in the name of ‘serious fun.’
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Ann Wardwell Director of Advancement
How Are We Doing? Assessing Fay’s Math Program
What makes an excellent math program? Fay’s teachers take a closer look at the Pre-K-ninth grade scope and sequence, with help from outside experts.
© 2014
Also in this issue: 2 Head’s Notebook 16 Fay in Brief 32 “Glory Days” in Fay’s Art Studio 34 Sports Spotlight 36 Color Competition 38 Founders’ Weekend 2014 40 Remembering Brooks Harlow 42 Introducing New Trustees 54 Primary and Lower School Closing Exercises 64 In Memoriam 67 Back Cover: Sheryl Traylor
Head’s Notebook:
A Message from Rob Gustavson, Head of School
From Renovation to Innovation hen I interview teaching candidates, I’m often asked what attracted me to Fay six years ago. While I could list many specific reasons, they all relate to a central theme: I was drawn to the School’s history and reputation, and also its enormous potential. Fay seemed like an historic old home, grounded in rich traditions and in need of some updates. I was impressed and encouraged that Steve White and the Board of Trustees had recognized this need and had initiated the process of campus renovation. Their ambitious campus master plan included the purchase of two large pieces of land, construction of two new dormitories and a Wellness Center, creation of a separate athletic campus, and development of a new Primary School program and building. I perceived a strong desire to grow and improve, and it was clear that the Board was serious about building on the past and making broad, positive changes that extended far beyond campus improvements.
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Indeed, we have undertaken many forms of renewal during the past six years. Some of these achievements can be easily measured. We have increased enrollment by more than 100 students, while becoming more selective in admission. We have doubled our financial aid budget and begun distributing it to students in every grade. We have improved the quality of our summer camps and have doubled the income from these and other auxiliary programs. We have doubled the size of the Annual Fund and grown Fay’s endowment despite the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. These results didn’t happen by chance; they were the result of careful, deliberate planning that established a responsible financial roadmap. Just as important, we have strengthened Fay’s culture and educational program by establishing a school-wide
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expectation of excellence and maintaining an unwavering commitment to high standards. We simultaneously developed a rigorous faculty evaluation program and dramatically increased faculty salaries, which has enabled us to keep our best teachers and hire outstanding new ones. And as you will read, we have instituted regular curricular reviews in each subject area by outside experts from secondary schools and colleges in order to ensure that our academic program is current, dynamic, and effective. Fay has moved beyond the process of renovation and begun a new period of innovation. We are no longer just strengthening our program; we are now introducing powerful new methods and ideas, and we are actively encouraging and supporting exciting new approaches to teaching and learning. While maintaining a focus on teaching core, foundational academic skills, we are increasing attention on ways to instill what we have come to call Enduring Skills for a Changing World, such as critical thinking, introspection, discernment, problem solving, adaptability, empathy, leadership, responsibility, and integrity. Although the phrase “Where tradition meets innovation” may have been aspirational five years ago, it aptly describes the ethos of Fay today. As the School’s sesquicentennial approaches, it is fitting that we are rededicating ourselves to ensuring high quality in everything we do. Members of the Fay School community share an understanding that excellence is not an accomplishment but an attitude. We also understand that excellence doesn’t just happen. It requires the continuous investment of energy and resources in our people and our programs, and the resolve to maintain an ongoing mindset of renovation and innovation. There is no better way to honor Fay’s extraordinary 150-year legacy of establishing the foundation for productive and fulfilling lives.
HEAD’S NOTEBOOK
We are no longer just strengthening our program; we are now introducing powerful new methods and ideas, and we are actively encouraging and supporting exciting new approaches to teaching and learning.
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How Are We Doing? FEATURE
Assessing Fay’s Math Curriculum
Assessment is a key part of the educational cycle. Every good school uses a range of assessment tools to ask the students, “How are you doing?” and the answers help educators improve and target their teaching. But at Fay, the students aren’t the only ones being assessed. Our teachers also shine the spotlight of assessment on themselves and ask the tough but rewarding question, “How are we doing?” www.fayschool.org | 5
hat makes an excellent math program? That’s a question Fay’s math teachers are constantly asking, and the answers they find drive them to review, revise, and refine the program in order to meet their students’ needs.
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WHAT MAKES AN EXCELLENT MATH PROGRAM? 6 | Fay Magazine 2014
As part of this process, Fay’s math department participated in an indepth, external review of its program this past winter. The two-day review was conducted by a four-person team led by Harvard University professor Jon Star, who taught at Choate Rosemary Hall and now studies how children learn mathematics (particularly algebra) in middle and high school. He was joined by Janet Cowan, math department chair at Applewild School; Katrina Mills, math specialist at The Park School; and Beth Thiemann, math coordinator at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School. The team presented a report of their findings based on conversations with math faculty, in-depth examination of the curriculum from Pre-K through ninth grade, analysis of school testing data, and classroom observations. And what did we learn? The team highlighted significant strengths of Fay’s math program from Pre-K through ninth grade and pinpointed areas where the program can continue to grow.
FEATURE
Most importantly, the report supported the faculty’s and administration’s internal findings and validated the math department’s rigorous, innovative, and studentcentered approach. “We’d been focusing closely on the math program already,” notes math department chair Julie Porrazzo, now in her third year at Fay. “The visiting team’s report was incredibly helpful. It confirmed that we’re on the right track and offered some new ideas for how we can continue to improve.”
WHAT WE DO To measure how we’re doing in math, it’s important to understand first of all just what we’re doing. Math instruction has changed a lot since the days when most parents were in school; and while two and two still certainly equals four, brain and teaching research has provided educators with information and resources to make math learning increasingly meaningful and effective. Lainie Schuster, who is head of Fay’s Lower School, is an expert math educator who has published numerous books for teachers on effective math teaching, among them Enriching Your Math Curriculum, published by Math Solutions. In answering the question, “What does a good math program look like?” she writes, “Mathematical experiences and practices that are rich in content and offer continual opportunities for students to make sense of what they are doing and thinking must be at the forefront of our charge.” This guiding principle also informs Fay’s math program. From the Pre-K teachers helping children practice counting with blocks, to Upper School teachers showing students how to evaluate algebraic expressions, all Fay math teachers share common goals:
• AUTOMATICITY OF SKILLS: Students need to have a solid grasp of the basic facts, whether it’s memorizing addition and multiplication facts or knowing how to factor a binomial. Once students have internalized foundational skills, they are freed up to focus on critical thinking and problem solving. • CONNECTING SKILLS AND CONCEPTS: It’s a good thing to understand how to do long division, but it’s even more important to understand the algorithm. “If students do the steps without knowing what they represent, they’ll get stuck if they ever encounter a problem that deviates from the standard,” Lainie says. That’s why students in Lower School, for example, practice multi-digit multiplication using the standard steps—but they also solve these problems using other strategies, such as the ‘partial products’ method. • EXPRESSING UNDERSTANDING IN WRITING: Students achieve a deeper
understanding of math concepts when they are able to show their understanding in writing. The Fay program makes a strong link between writing and math, and students in many grades keep math journals, where they practice untangling multi-step problems and reflect on their own problem-solving processes. This year, teachers in every division introduced “Grapple Problems” during Morning Meeting, where students were challenged to solve math and logic puzzles and explain their thinking in a fun and competitive format. • REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS: Students need opportunities to see math in action and to apply their skills in realworld scenarios. “Context is a key ingredient in building a child’s understanding,” explains Julie Porrazzo. That’s why Primary School students spend so much time working with hands-on tools—assembling interlocking cubes to measure distance, for example, or working with pretend slices of pizza when they explore fractions.
When Julie Porrazzo’s Algebra I class studied systems of equations and inequalities, Julie introduced a real-world connection by having the students examine the concept of philanthropy in the food industry. Students analyzed the business model of organizations like PaneraCares, which operates donation-only cafes in underserved communities. The students asked the question, “Is this a sustainable business model?” and then tested their theories by running their own bake sale, where students paid for the treats by “suggested donation.” Based on the students’ bake sale results, it would seem that the philanthropic business model can work: the students donated their $600 profit to PaneraCares.
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WHAT MAKES IT EXCELLENT In their report, the visiting team highlighted a number of areas of particular strength—areas which, notes Julie Porrazzo, support the math department’s common goals. Here are just a few of their commendations. “Instructional implementation is exemplary, and the students have regular and repeated opportunities to engage in mathematically rich and intellectually productive discussions.”
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• AN EXCELLENT MATH PROGRAM GOES BEYOND THE TEXTBOOK. The visiting team commended the Fay teachers for their thoughtful and creative approaches to teaching skills and building understanding. Fay teachers use a variety of strategies that include drill and review, classroom discussion, case studies, and hands-on projects. And they take advantage of a broad and deep reservoir of resources—textbooks, hands-on materials, internal and external experts—to create lessons that meet standards while also meeting the needs of the Fay population.
“Without exception, we found the math faculty to be a talented group—creative, enthusiastic, and willing to try new ideas. Faculty feel very positively about Fay and Fay math, with sincere commitment to deep learning in math, problem solving, and the welfare of their students. Math teachers have strong collaborative and collegial relationships with each other…Our experience in schools suggests that these features are not typical; the math faculty as a whole is very strong.”
FROM ONE ALUMNA: THOUGHTS ON FAY MATH FROM SWETHA DRAVIDA ’06
Hi Mrs. Schuster,
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• AN EXCELLENT MATH PROGRAM NEEDS EXCELLENT TEACHERS. The visiting team commended the Fay faculty for their expertise, creativity, and collegiality. The math faculty’s strength—both individually and as a unit—is due in part to the department’s continued focus on professional development, and Fay’s math teachers participate actively in training and enrichment throughout the year, through journals, online classes, and weeklong immersive courses during the summer. “The importance of differentiation is certainly known to Fay math faculty, and we saw admirable efforts to differen tiate across all grade levels… Teachers use stations and individualized/pullout instruction on a regular basis to assess the needs and progress of each individual student and to tailor instruction and activities to individuals as necessary.”
• AN EXCELLENT MATH PROGRAM FOCUSES ON THE NEEDS OF INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS. One size does not fit all, and in every division Fay teachers find ways to modify curriculum so all students can find appropriate challenge and success.
GOALS FOR FUTURE GROWTH An excellent math program is also always evolving—and so it was helpful for the visiting team to offer their suggestions for future growth. “The team’s recommendations echoed the goals that we had already set within our department,” says Julie Porrazzo, “and their report helped us refine our direction for the coming year.” • CONTINUE TO BUILD CONNECTIONS ACROSS DIVISIONS. The visiting team noted, “We saw interesting and important math going on at all levels,” but reminded the department
to take advantage of Fay’s Pre-K – 9 structure by increasing “linkages and coherence across the three divisions of the school.” • MAKE THE MOST OF OUR INHOUSE EXPERTS. As part of Fay’s ongoing professional development program, the visiting team recommended that the department take advantage of in-house peer observations and feedback. The team noted that “clearly Fay places great value on teachers’ continued professional growth,” and suggested ways to leverage peer observations to help teachers refine their practice. • SPREAD THE WORD! The team noted that the math faculty could be doing more to share information about the math program and “all that Fay is doing well in terms of math,” from more bulletin boards for showcasing classroom work to articles (like this one!) for the Fay community.
ACROSS DIVISIONS: A SCIENCE DEPARTMENT ASSESSMENT This winter, the science department also welcomed a visiting team of experts who spent two days visiting classrooms and learning about Fay’s program. The visiting team included Brown University lecturer and Director of Science Education Dan Bisaccio; Martha Svatek, science teacher at Nashoba Brooks School; Sally Crissman, Senior Science Educator at TERC; and Jacob Backon, math and science teacher at St. Mark’s School. As with the math department review, the team’s report identified noteworthy strengths and shone the light on areas of growth. They were particularly impressed by Fay’s “exceptional science faculty…who were not only concerned with the science their students learn but also that their students learn to experience the joy of discovery and the relevance of scientific knowledge in their everyday lives.”
The science department was commended for a “creative and highly interactive” curriculum that was “engaging, innovative, and coherent.” The visiting team specifically highlighted the engineering curriculum in the Lower School and the launch of the Innovation Lab, which they cited as a unique opportunity “to explore the potential of new technologies to boost learning in science and engineering.” The team recommended that the science faculty focus on refining the department’s curriculum documents, in part to share information about the program more effectively with the Fay community. The team also suggested that a revised curriculum plan would also help improve continuity from division to division and identify how specific science inquiry skills are developed from grade to grade.
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Vertical Chess
by Erin Ash Sullivan
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hen you’re suspended on a rock face at 25,000 feet above sea level, at temperatures well below freezing, things get pretty simple. You focus on weather, on safety, on making sure that you, your team, and your equipment are ready to continue the ascent to the peak. If you’re not an alpinist, you could easily think that mountain climbing is a purely physical endeavor. Make no mistake: scaling the world’s top peaks is not for the weak. You need physical strength, endurance, and, ideally, better-than-average lung capacity. But the mental challenges are equally formidable, and for someone like Fabrizio Zangrilli ’88, just as alluring as the physical ones. Every new mountain is a strategic puzzle, a problem to solve—a game of “vertical chess.”
FABRIZIO ZANGRILLI LIVES CLOSE TO THE MOUNTAINS, both literally and metaphorically. Currently based in Aspen, Colorado, he has been a professional alpinist for nearly twenty years. His climbing has taken him around the world, putting up new routes or speed ascents in the Himalayas, Alaska, Patagonia, and Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, among others. He has guided and/or led expeditions to Everest, K2, Makalu, Cho Oyu and the Gasherbrums, Nuptse South Face, Ama Dablam, Pumori and Cerro Torre. Stateside, Fabrizio is co-owner of a guide service that teaches rock, ice, ski, and alpine mountaineering skills and leads expeditions all over the world. These days, his time is evenly split between ski guiding in Colorado and expeditions abroad. He’s currently sponsored by the shoe company Scarpa; he’s also sponsored by the clothing company Marmot, with whom he has worked on product development, and he collaborated on the development of a new line of ice axes and climbing equipment for CAMP/Cassin. Fabrizio has also worked on numerous film projects, on both sides of the camera, which have showcased noteworthy ascents of some of the world’s top peaks. He is featured in the 2012 movie K2: Siren of the Himalayas, which documents a group of climbers attempting to climb K2 in 2009, on the 100-year anniversary of the landmark 1909 expedition. www.fayschool.org | 13
FEATURE
What’s the appeal of climbing mountains? For Fabrizio, it truly is about the mental challenge. In a recent interview with Scarpa, he noted, “The beauty of climbing— and specifically in alpinism—is the totality of the unknown. Staring up a wall the night before starting a route, not knowing where to go exactly, not knowing what gear to take exactly, not knowing if your planning is totally correct, and if what you’re hoping to climb is possible, is such an integral part of the experience; you have to show up with your bag of tricks full and honed.”
Fabrizio credits his school experience with giving him an appreciation for rigor and hard work. “It’s interesting how you transfer that rigor to your work life,” he notes.
FABRIZIO GREW UP IN NEW YORK CITY AND CAME TO FAY for eighth and ninth grade. “My experience at Fay was so positive it was unreal,” he says. “As an only child, I loved the environment of the school. I loved having constant companions and friends to do things with.” His climbing days began soon after, in the fall of 1988, during orientation at Berkshire School in western Massachusetts. “It was one of the first weekends, a ‘get to know your dormmates’ rock climbing outing,” he remembers. “I was abysmal at the climbing at first, but I loved the mental side of it. I was attracted to the internal fight that climbing really is.” Climbing became a regular part of his life, throughout his time at Berkshire and then at Georgetown, where he majored in international relations and economics, graduating in 1996.
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The “lightbulb moment” was shortly after graduation, when Fabrizio was invited to join a team of experienced climbers who planned to climb not one, but two 8,000-meter peaks in Pakistan in a single summer. “It was the moment when I realized that this was the life for me,” he says. “It was the expansion of the universe: I came away from that summer asking myself, how do you do that? How do you make a life as a climber?” Fabrizio wasted no time. He went through guiding school and immediately went to work for major European expedition operators; by 1999 he had gone into business for himself and started his own guide service. For the next ten years, he did a tenmonth circuit, leading expeditions in Peru, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, Patagonia, and Alaska. Since 2009, he has balanced the climbing with skiing and ski guiding in Colorado, a passion that he shares with his new wife, Alix. Fabrizio’s list of climbing achievements is a long and impressive one—long enough that when asked about his most memorable ascents, his 36-hour round-trip from K2’s base camp at 5,000 meters (17,700 feet), to the “Eagle’s Nest” at 7,900 meters (25,900 feet) doesn’t even make the cut. One climb that does stand out in Fabrizio’s memory is his 2005 ascent of the Phantom Wall, on the southwest face of Mount Huntington in the Alaska Range. Fabrizio and a climbing partner made the round-trip climb in 55 hours, via a new route over incredibly challenging terrain. In their 25th anniversary issue, Rock and Ice magazine labeled the ascent one of the 100 best ascents in 50 years. Another achievement that Fabrizio points to with pride is a 2001 trip to Queen Maud Land in Antarctica, when he and a team spent 95 days scaling the area’s three- and four-thousand foot rock towers. The trip was particularly noteworthy to Fabrizio because of its educational component: middle school teachers had set up earth science and ecology experiments for them to perform during their climbs, and Fabrizio and his partners conducted the experiments and shared the results via satellite, so students could see science in action.
THERE’S NO QUESTION THAT FABRIZIO’S LIFE IS THE EMBODIMENT OF “SERIOUS FUN,” THE SCHOOLWIDE THEME THAT FAY HAS EMBRACED THIS YEAR. The adrenalin rush and intellectual-physical challenge that each new peak presents has provided Fabrizio with a career path that has been uniquely rewarding. But he is the first to emphasize the “serious” part of “serious fun,” noting that the skills that have enabled him to find success in his field are those that he developed while at Fay and Berkshire. Fabrizio credits his school experience with giving him an appreciation for rigor and hard work. “It’s interesting how you transfer that rigor to your work life,” he notes. “Yes, ski guiding is fun, but what other people may not realize is that as guides, we’re up at six o’clock every morning doing research and writing avalanche forecasts. Days are long—we spend eight or nine hours each day ski guiding, then it’s back down the mountain for a mandatory meeting with my guides to go over what we
observed and figure out the plan of action for the next day. For every summit we climb, there are a significant number of hours of office time to make sure that every trip is safe and successful. That kind of rigor delivers results.” Fabrizio was actively involved in team sports at Fay and Berkshire—he played soccer and lacrosse—and, he notes, those experiences have also helped him in building and running his business. “You learn a lot about group dynamics when you’re part of a team, or when you captain a team,” he says. “I deal with a lot of the same issues when I work with clients and guides.” For Fabrizio, the effort and focus required of his career are worth it because of his love for climbing. His advice to anyone wanting to pursue one’s interests as a career: “The important thing to do is to find what you’re passionate about and then be willing to devote all your time to it. You have to commit to the hundreds of thousands of hours of practice. That’s how you’ll find success.”
“I was abysmal at the climbing at first, but I loved the mental side of it. I was attracted to the internal fight that climbing really is.”
FAY IN BRIEF featured a range of scholarly papers on topics related to ancient Greece and Rome. Dan presented a paper entitled, “Polybius’ Political Perspective and the Model of Mixed Government.” The paper reflects Dan’s ongoing research about the classical era: it considers the pragmatic political approach of the Greek writer Polybius in contrast to the more theoretical writings of Plato and Aristotle.
Dan Blanchard Presents at Classical Association Meeting Upper School history teacher Dan Blanchard represented Fay at the Annual Meeting of CANE (the Classical Association of New England) on March 8 at St. Anselm's College. The conference, which included more than 200 classicists and educators from area schools and colleges,
FAY STUDENTS HONORED FOR ACHIEVEMENTS IN LATIN FIFTEEN UPPER SCHOOL STUDENTS were honored for their achievements on this spring’s National Latin Exam. Sherry Lim ’15 and Victoria Steelman ’14 earned Cum Laude for correctly answering 37 of 40 questions. James Chou ’14, Sue Lee ’15, and Grant Summermatter ’14 earned Magna Cum Laude for correctly answering 38 of 40 questions. The silver medalists, who earned Maxima Cum Laude for making only one error on the test, were Ji Yoon Ahn ’15, Katie Chung ’15, Warren Dev ’14, Olivia Hammond ’16, Katie Hoffman ’14, Jeremy Navarro ’14, Brandon Schuster ’16, and Cat Shakin ’16. And two students earned a gold medal, or Summa Cum Laude, for achieving a perfect score on the exam: Amy Lu ’16 and Mark Wang ’15. The National Latin Exam is offered under the joint sponsorship of the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League. This year over 154,000 students from across the United States and 15 foreign countries took the test, and the gold medal is an honor earned by less than 1% of those students who took the exam.
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Dan has presented at CANE almost every year since 2003 and looks forward to the opportunity to share expertise and research with colleagues. He has recently presented research before the Conference of Army Historians, the Society of Military History, and the New England Historical Association. While his passion for his subject area drives him to continue to dig deeper into the history, culture, and politics of the period, he notes that his writing is frequently inspired by student questions and the discussions that evolve during class. “My teaching influences the research and writing process,” he says, “and my hope is that my continued research makes my classroom teaching even more effective.”
FAY’S “STEALTH SERVICE” LEAVES MESSAGES OF FRIENDSHIP AND SUPPORT
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n the Thursday morning before spring break, Upper School students arrived to campus to find their lockers covered with yellow sticky notes— each one a handwritten note of encouragement, affirmation or kindness, like these: Do more of what makes you smile! Somebody thinks you are amazing! Be kind: everybody is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be your own kind of beautiful. You rock! The culprits? One anonymous advisory group of students. The group participated in a yearlong “stealth service” project that included love letters hidden in secret places around campus to be read and enjoyed by the finder. The goal: to spread cheer, a sense of wellbeing, and a feeling of community spirit. In case you’re wondering if we know who the note-leavers were, we do….but we’ll never tell!
FAY IN BRIEF
NINTH GRADERS PERFORM AT CENTRAL DISTRICT SENIOR HIGH CONCERT The Massachusetts Central District Senior High Concert Festival benefitted from the talents of three Fay ninth graders this year. Invited to perform were viola player Noah Scott and baritones Jeremy Navarro and Joseph Ragan. The students spent three halfdays rehearsing with other Central Massachusetts high schoolers and then performed at historic Mechanics Hall in Worcester. The rehearsals were intense but rewarding, and all the performers thrived on the challenge. “We came to the rehearsals thinking we would never be able to learn one of the songs (“Jubilant Song” by Dello Joio),” notes Joseph, “but we learned it in two or three days, and it became one of our favorite songs.” Choral teacher Stephen Buck and concert band teacher Josh Pierson helped the students prepare for the competitive auditions,
WHAT THEY SAID It was another incredible year for the Upper School Speech Contest, which featured words of wisdom and moments of hilarity. Here are a few highlights; check out the full text of the winning speeches at www.fayschool.org/speeches. “I have multiple dreams…they go from being tall to being a pro football player, two things that probably won’t ever happen, at least from the views of others. But through my eyes, they are possible. That is what I keep telling myself.” —Anthony D’Angelo ’15, first place winner, “My Dreams and Goals” “Today, let us remember the fragility of the human heart. Let us guard our tongues, lock up our vile and vicious words, and protect that fragile heart from dying a little.” —Se Ri Lee ’16, second place winner, “Verbal Swords” “Between the ages of five and six, my mom spent most of her time in and out of the doctor’s office…She felt as though she was letting our family down, that her illness was taking away from our childhood…If anything, she was raising our family up, never bringing us down...not taking my siblings and me away from our childhood, but enriching it.” —Bella Humphreys ’14, third place winner, “The Great Escape”
and both teachers value the benefits that young musicians derive from these experiences. In addition to the “close reading” the students must make of the performance pieces, they also learn a lot about performing in front of an unfamiliar judge and dealing with feedback. “You can’t replicate that here at Fay,” notes Stephen, “and each time you do it, you get better.”
FAY STUDENTS SHOWCASE THEIR WORK AT YOUTH ART MONTH EXHIBIT
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he artwork of 19 Fay students from Pre-K through ninth grade was selected this spring for a special exhibit at the State Transportation Building in Boston. The multimedia exhibit was sponsored by the Massachusetts Art Education Association (MAEA) in conjunction with Youth Art Month, a national celebration that emphasizes the value of art education for all children and encourages support for the quality art programs in Massachusetts’ schools. Two Fay students were specially recognized. A watercolor by Ashwini Menon ’22 was selected for exhibition at the National Art Education Association Conference in San Diego. And a selfportrait by Yuwon ‘Elaine’ Moon ’14 (right) was one of only four art works selected for special recognition by Sargent Art Supplies. Congratulations to the other students whose work was featured: Kiley Whelan ’23, Cayden Miu ’22, David Jiang ’21, Julia Wilkinson ’21, Isabelle Aish ’19, Carter Pomponio ’19, Jillian Robertson ’18, Lara Caradimitropoulo ’17, Victoria Waterfall ’16, Sydney Pearson ’16, Mary Flathers ’16, Abra Issa ’15, Yasmine Al Shoaibi ’15, Laura Wu ’15, Allie Pryshlak ’15, Helena Zhao ’14, and Ben Sukboontip ’14.
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A New Kind of Mount Olympus: Greek Gods, Empathy, and Design Thinking by Erin McNally, Primary School Librarian
The pantheon of Greek gods had something for everyone: gods and goddesses for the sky, the sea, the harvest, and fire, just to name a few. Now, thanks to Fay’s first graders, there are a few more. Ask the Fay first graders what they know about Greek gods, and you might be surprised at their responses. You might scratch your head when students confidently untangle the complexities of Zeus’ family tree. Your eyes might widen when they describe how Persephone’s periodic return to the underworld explains the change of seasons. You will be blown away when you learn that at the end of a six-week study of Greek mythology, first graders used design thinking to design and create gods of their own. I became interested in design thinking after Director of Innovation Peter Fearey introduced Fay faculty to the process last spring. I immediately knew it was something I wanted to incorporate into my library classes. What struck me about design thinking was its focus on using an interest in others to look outward in order to not only construct knowledge, but also improve the world. The library is a place that fosters exploration, and to me, this certainly felt like something worthy of exploring. Because Primary School students attend library classes twice a week, I decided to dedicate a portion of that time to incorporating design thinking into our study of Greek mythology. Design thinking is a systemized approach to solving problems that was developed at Stanford’s design school and is used by designers and engineers around the world. But don’t be misled by the high-tech connections: at the heart of design thinking is empathy. As Peter Fearey explains, “When you understand empathy, you become sensitized to people’s needs and more compassionate about finding solutions.” “My partner Garrett wanted to run really fast so that he could win races. I created a god that likes to run and has really long nice legs.” –Vera Gluzman
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The five steps of the design thinking process are clearly defined. First: empathize. Listen to your “client” so you can truly understand the problem that needs to be solved. Second: use what you learned to define the problem. Third: generate possible solutions. Fourth: create a prototype. Fifth: test the prototype and seek out feedback. Then the cycle repeats, until a working solution is generated.
PRIMARY SCHOOL UPDATE “When I interviewed J.D. he told me that he wished he had the power to change the world. This is the god I created for him. There are birds under the god because he can go to the human world. He can’t fly, so the bird makes him fly around the world.” –Anoushka Mittal
day. So I made him a candy god. I drew peppermints as the outline of his body. I drew a candy cane staff and a peppermint sun. He also has a licorice mouth.”
While using design thinking as a way to identify and explore opportunities to help others seems like a lofty goal for a seven-year-old, first graders aren’t afraid to break things down and take one step at a time. The first step in the design thinking process—empathy—is perhaps the most important. As a teacher, I like the idea of having students think beyond themselves and concentrate on what their partner values and needs. For first graders creating gods, this meant interviewing a partner about his or her desire for super-human powers. Each student then used the information gathered from the interview to design a unique god for a partner that would display those traits. Throughout the design and creation process, first graders checked in with their partners to ensure that the god reflected the ideas that arose during the interview. Each time partners met, they made modifications and drafted new iterations. “Getting continual feedback
about your work is a great way to test your ideas and get a sense of whether you’re heading in the right direction,” says Peter Fearey. “It’s a chance to evaluate your work for strengths and weaknesses. It’s also a very conscious way to think, invent, and ultimately learn.” What I found astonishing is how well each god reflected the traits identified by each student’s partner during the peer interviews. As I looked over the final products and listened to the students talk about their work, it was clear that they had really listened to one another. “My partner Garrett wanted to run really fast so that he could win races,” says first grader Vera Gluzman. “I created a god that likes to run and has really long, nice legs.” Cami Hartigan found out during her interview that her partner Sophia has two pet birds at home. Cami gave wings to the god she created for Sophia so that she and her birds could fly together. Andrew Antonopoulos says, “My partner Jesse told me that his wish was to eat candy every
As the moderating teacher for this project, I couldn’t be more impressed by what first graders accomplished. Stunning paintings aside, the students learned valuable lessons about listening and feedback. The ability to listen with intention, internalize information, and then create a sophisticated way of showing understanding. Moreover, the first graders displayed flexibility and growth in responding positively to their partners’ feedback. Because the children were motivated to create something that pleased their partners, feedback was seen as a tool to help them achieve their goal, rather than as a setback or sign of failure. Reflection plays a large role in the design thinking process. It’s a chance for students to share personal discoveries and insights. After the first graders put finishing touches on their gods, the students gathered to talk about their experience and reflect upon the results of their hard work. First grader Owen Harrington noted, “I wanted to try harder because I didn’t want my partner to be disappointed. I wanted to talk with her a lot so that I got down what she really wanted her god to look like.” First grader Aidan Oare agrees. “I liked making something for a partner because I got to create a mix of ideas from two different people,” he says. “I think it made it better.”
“Andrew was my partner. I made a god who has the power to sleep in late. His name is Z-man because sometimes when you have a sign of sleeping it has the letter Z!” –Jesse Tokaya
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The Ultimate Notebook Innovative teaching and learning doesn’t always require flat screens and computer chips. Sometimes all you need is a glue stick and a good origami fold.
The social studies notebooks in Jess Girouard’s fourth grade classroom don’t look like anything special on the outside: they’re the standard composition notebooks with the black and white covers that students have used for decades. Flip through the pages, however, and it’s a whole new story. Each spread offers a surprise. You’ll find artfully folded squares of paper that open up into informational sheets about Native American culture, folder pockets stuffed with student-written mini biographies of famous explorers, and accordion-fold timelines showing waves of immigration, just to name a few. These “interactive notebooks” were a new initiative this year in the fourth grade. They’re an ingenious way to engage students with the curriculum in a hands-on way as well as a tool for helping students organize information and synthesize ideas. Jess Girouard developed the plan for the interactive notebooks in response to an interesting curricular challenge. The fourth grade social studies program focuses in depth on three major topics in American history: Native American culture, the Age of Exploration, and 19th century immigra-
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LOWER SCHOOL UPDATE
tion. As such, a standard social studies textbook doesn’t really meet the students’ needs, so over the years, Jess has amassed a trove of primary sources, maps, photographs, articles, and grade-appropriate nonfiction readings to share with students. In previous years, students received photocopies of the resources and stored them in a standard three-ring binder. But Jess wanted to modify the system so students could connect more actively with each reading. Enter the interactive notebook. On a typical spread, you’ll see some kind of teacher-generated resource glued onto the left hand page, such as a nonfiction passage. The right-hand side of the spread is for students to respond actively to the reading in some way: an organizational chart, a journal entry, a creative response.
For example, as students were learning about exploration, they read an article about life aboard a sailing ship. With Jess’ guidance, they practiced highlighting key text elements. Then, each student used the information to write a “sailor’s letter,” where they incorporated the facts they learned into a first-person narrative.
And all the students embraced the creative challenge of designing a notebook that was both useful and beautiful. They enjoyed learning how to make “foldables”—ingenious origami folds that make it possible to embed pages of information in the notebooks—as well as projects that showcased their content knowledge.
As Jess explains it, the setup of the notebook reinforces the Lower School’s approach to the study of history. “Students aren’t just passive recipients of information,” she says. “Every time students get a new reading, they know that they are going to have to engage with the information and make it their own in some way.”
This pride in creation was evident at this spring’s student-led conferences, when students met with their teachers and parents to share samples of their work and discuss progress and future goals.
“As a teacher, the notebook reminds me to be constantly thoughtful about what I’m teaching and how I’m teaching,” she adds. “We always want students to be active participants in their own learning.” From the student perspective, the notebooks have been a hit. Fourth grader Mia Housman loved creating her interactive notebook and especially enjoyed the “Who Am I” project where she wrote a mini biography on explorer Ponce de Leon. “The booklet was so much more fun than just doing a worksheet,” she says. “I worked hard on it to make it my own.”
Almost without exception, every fourth grader chose to share the interactive notebook. “Some students went page by page with the parents to talk about every single activity,” Jess notes. “The notebook was an incredible document of their developing skills over the course of the year—and a great way for the students to remember and reflect on their learning.”
The organizational element was also hugely helpful. Students worked collaboratively with Jess to build and number each spread in their notebook, so they could easily find information when they needed it. “We put our homework in there as reference materials, so we never had to dig around,” Mia says.
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Connecting Passion and Purpose Fay students got an up-close and personal lesson this spring in harnessing the power of the government to do good and help the planet.
On April 11, the 17 students in Fay’s Challenge 20/20 group drafted their own legislation to reduce consumer waste and presented their proposal to Massachusetts State Representative Carolyn Dykema.
“Meeting and presenting to Representative Dykema was truly inspiring. Standing behind the podium, I felt like I was speaking to someone who actually cared about what I had spent months researching, and who was going to do her best to implement our research and share it with others.” –Catherine Kasparyan ’15
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the Rozalia Project's study off the gyres of the coast of Maine and pollution in Boston Harbor and the Charles River.
Challenge 20/20 is a program where students from over 50 countries work collaboratively to generate solutions to 20 global problems. Led by faculty advisors Kara Ashley and Esther Uduehi, this year’s seventeen-member group focused their study on the health of our oceans.
After attending a presentation by the Rozalia Project, students learned that most maritime pollution in the coastal areas of New England comes from items people bring along when they are participating in recreational activities near and on the water: plastic, aluminum, and glass bottles, as well as food packaging, Styrofoam piling from docks, and fishing line.
The Fay team spent five months researching maritime safety and pollution and investigated issues far from home such as hazards on global shipping lanes, the Deepwater Horizon event, and the impact of the Pebble Mine project on the Alaskan salmon fishing industry. The students also explored local issues, such as the Cape Wind project and
This information led students to wonder how to reduce the amount of consumer product waste that ends up in the water off the Massachusetts shore. Their idea: reform the Massachusetts Bottle Bill to incentivize recycling and promote the use of photo-biodegradable materials in packaging drinks and other consumer products.
UPPER SCHOOL UPDATE
HANDS ACROSS THE WATER
T
he National Association of Independent School’s Challenge 20/20 program also has an international component, where schools around the globe are paired up to share research and information. As we have done in previous years, Fay partnered this year with Saigon South International School (SSIS) and “met” via Skype, where Fay students learned about the SSIS students’ efforts to study water quality in the Mekong Delta.
With this goal in mind, the students rewrote the now 30 year-old bottle bill to more closely reflect the consumer habits of the present day, and to include some items that are typically overlooked. Interestingly, bottled water and sports drinks—two huge “culprits” when it comes to consumer waste—are not covered in the current version of the bottle bill. The students also addressed the issue of microbeads, the small plastic beads found in exfoliants and hand sanitizers. Though barely visible, microbeads are a problem because they make their way into the oceans through septic and sewage treatment, and they release harmful toxins. To see how their bill would fare in the real world, the group issued an invitation to State Representative Carolyn Dykema to visit campus and hear their ideas. Rep. Dykema, who, in addition to representing Fay’s district, sits
on the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, and the Joint Committee on Public Health for the state of Massachusetts, graciously accepted the students’ invitation. Rep. Dykema listened closely to the presentation, taking notes throughout, and afterwards, she spoke to the group about Massachusetts’ legislative process and the complicated factors involved in considering the environmental and economic impact of a change to the bottle bill. She noted that the state government is currently in the process of a revision to the bill that happens to include many of the changes suggested by the students. Rep. Dykema lauded the students’ thoughtful and thorough argument, which included reasoned explanations of the changes in
society since the bottle bill was first passed as well as many years of data on the increase in bottled water consumption over the years. She also credited the students with their willingness to raise their voices and take an informed stand on meaningful issues. “It’s easy to think that the government is just one big system, but every individual does matter,” she said. “Never underestimate the power of a single voice to substantially change the direction of a conversation.” Congratulations to the Upper School students who participated in this year’s Challenge 20/20 project: Maggie Ashley ’15, Anikka Fredericksen ’15, Emma Gustavson ’15, Katie Hoffman ’14, Catherine Kasparyan ’15, Logan King ’15, Lauren Lee ’16, Sue Lee ’15, Leo Liang ’14, Dajung Lim ’16, Noelle Morgan ’15, Savion Rivers ’14, Rachel Shin ’14, Rada Singhasaneh ’15, Abi Stanley ’14, Mark Wang ’15, and Tim Zhao ’14.
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Connecting Scholarship and Service: Upper School Service Trips The Upper School campus was a ghost town for one week this past April, when the seventh, eighth, and ninth graders took off for their annual class trips. The class trips are always a highlight of the school year— and often a touchstone for students when they recall those special “bonding moments” that brought them together as a class.
“I’ve learned that one person may not be able to change the world, but by doing something little by little, you can have a huge impact on the community around you.” –Karim Al Afifi ’14 24 | Fay Magazine 2014
This year brought an exciting new change to the class trip format: all of the trips were focused on service. And while our students were dispersed across states and across countries, all came away having lived Fay’s core value of Dedicated Service and having learned an important life lesson— that one can find joy and meaning in serving others.
UPPER SCHOOL CLASS TRIPS
Seventh Grade: Service Close to Home SEVENTH GRADERS began their trip week with a day on campus to set goals and think about the nature and meaning of service. In keeping with the theme of starting small, the students headed to the Primary and Lower School for a morning of service in the classrooms. Students read books, played games, and sang with the younger children, who were delighted to spend time with their role models. On Tuesday, it was off to Camp Becket in western Massachusetts. Students used the overnight camp as a home base for two days of service projects at different area nonprofits. Every student got a chance to participate in a broad range of activities, including river cleanup in Great Barrington, flower planting for Habitat for Humanity, and sorting vegetables for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Students also learned how they could bring joy to others by sharing their artistic gifts. Some sang at Soldier On, a housing
facility for veterans, while others played music at a senior center. In the evenings, students gathered around the bonfire. “We wanted to give the students an opportunity to reflect,” says seventh grade dean Kelly Porter. “Our goal was to empower them and help them understand that even the little things they do can make a difference in other people’s lives.” Kelly was impressed by how the students rose to the challenge. “Our students were excited to get their hands dirty, rake leaves, plant a garden, burn brush. They were so happy ‘doing’ rather than just learning about what different nonprofits do.” Along the way, the students came together as a class. “Students who did not know each other particularly well at the beginning of the week were working side by side and supporting each other by the end,” says Kelly. “It was great to see those new connections develop.” www.fayschool.org | 25
Eighth Grade: Big Heart in the Big Apple EARLY ON THE MORNING of April 14, Fay’s eighth graders boarded buses and headed to New York City for a week of projects organized by the Youth Service Opportunities Project (YSOP), an organization established by the Quakers that connects young people to service opportunities. Each morning, students gathered at the Quaker Meeting House to discuss the plan for the day, and then they headed out to participate in projects focused on working with individuals who are dealing with poverty and homelessness. Students served meals in a soup kitchen, organized donated clothing, helped in an organic garden, delivered sandwiches to homeless people, and worked in a day care facility for children whose mothers had formerly been in prison. Eighth grade dean Dan Roy notes that the activities that resonated most powerfully were those that brought students in direct contact with the people they were serving. “Students made personal connections that made their service real and
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tangible. They loved working with the toddlers in the day care center, for example, where they felt like they really were having an impact.” The time students spent serving at the soup kitchen also took on a personal dimension when they had a chance to sit down and chat with the guests. They found common interests to discuss, such as basketball or movies—and one Fay student ended up immersed in a two-hour chess session with a soup kitchen guest! Dan notes how perceptive the eighth graders were as they reflected on their experiences. “Students were struck by the contrast between their lives in Southborough and the daily struggles of the people we were working with in New York. They completely understood that the dinner they were serving at the soup kitchen might be the only meal that someone would have for the whole day. It was an amazing opportunity to see our students’ empathy and compassion in action.”
UPPER SCHOOL CLASS TRIPS
NINTH GRADERS headed overseas to the Dominican Republic for a life-changing week in the town of Monte Cristi. The Fay group collaborated with Outreach360, a nonprofit that currently runs an afterschool program in Monte Cristi to supplement the area’s government-funded half-day school program. The Fay students set up “learning camps” focused on English literacy and vocabulary for the local children, who ranged in age from 3 to 14. The ninth graders’ full days included planning curriculum, creating materials, and teaching. Students spent free time in the park, where they met local children for soccer and other pickup games. As the students got to know their surroundings, they noted how helpful it was that they had read Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies earlier that year. Alvarez’s novel, which takes place in the Dominican Republic, tells the true story of how the Mirabal sisters fought to overthrow the Trujillo dictatorship in the 1950s. Many students noted that the novel gave them a context in which to understand Dominican history and culture.
Throughout the week, the ninth graders were consistently amazed by the dedication of the Dominican children, who were so eager to learn English. “Our students realized that their Fay education is a privilege,” says Service Learning Coordinator Emily McCauley. “They saw children who were committed to learning, even in less than optimal circumstances. This gave our students a new appreciation for their own education.” Despite the hardships they saw, the students noted that they also saw a lot more happiness in the Dominican Republic than they expected, which caused many to reconsider their ideas about living in the moment versus worrying about the future. “The Outreach360 principle, ‘This is it,’ has helped me sculpt a new perspective,” reflected Joseph Ragan ’14. “I've begun to see every day as a gift, every moment as an opportunity… I've always been looking ahead, thinking about what school I'm going to next, what job I'll hold in my later life, when all of the joys of being a young student are right in front of me.”
Ninth Grade: Outreach Overseas
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I MADE THAT!
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I MADE THAT!
It’s been a year since Fay’s Innovation Lab opened its doors.
Since then, the space has become a hub of learning, creativity,
and serious fun for students and teachers from Pre-K through ninth grade.
These days, the lab is composed of three rooms: a
Space
Design
for brainstorming and collaboration, with two full
"green screen" walls for video production; a
Maker Space
for building and construction, with shelves of "low tech" tools and supplies; and a
Fab Lab,
which includes tools for
21st-century fabrication, such as 3D printers and laser cutters. Teachers use the space to create curricular materials and
teaching tools; students use the space for classroom projects that support and extend classroom learning. Director of Innovation Peter Fearey has also scheduled in “Tinker Time,” open-lab
periods when faculty and students can learn alongside each other and push creative boundaries.
It’s hard to top the feeling of pride and sheer glee that comes with successfully seeing a project through from idea to hold-it-in-your-hand completion. Here’s a spotlight on just a few of this year’s makers and their projects.
Ruler by Nathan Kikonyogo,
Pentominoes by Tyler Bois,
“In math we learned about measurement, so the teachers had us design our own rulers. I did the drawing and the design for my ruler. Then the teachers used my drawing to make a computer file, and we used a laser cutter to cut the rulers out of wood. After the wood was cut we marked the inches ourselves. This is the ruler I use every day in class.”
“We made pentominoes, which are shapes that you can arrange in different ways to make designs. We used them for our math classes on geometry and problem solving. First we designed them on graph paper to make sure that their shapes would match up with each other. The Upper Schoolers used a program called Geometer’s Sketchpad to make our drawings into digital files. Then we used the laser cutter to cut the shapes out of thin plastic. Now, each person in my class has their own set of pentominoes, and we have our initials burned into the pieces so we don’t get them mixed up.”
second grade
Clock by Sophie Khalid, third grade
“This year we practiced telling time by using small clocks with hands that you could spin around to the hours and minutes. Then we decided to make our own clocks. We made designs based on what our hobbies are and what we care about. The teachers turned our paper designs into computer files so we could cut out the shapes of our clocks. Then we painted the wood and added the clock motor and hands. I chose a globe for my design because I care about the Earth. Other kids chose different designs. One boy made a baseball clock because he loves the Red Sox so much.”
fourth grade
Marionette by Tess Papagni and Nathalie Ahn, seventh grade
“During our activity period, Ms. Rosten challenged the students to make a children’s toy, so we decided to make a marionette. We sketched our ideas on paper and did some measurements to make sure the proportions would look right. Then we used a scroll saw to cut the pieces from some dowels, and we sanded the pieces down with a power
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sander. We used screw eyes to attach the limbs and head to the body with yarn. We still have to build the control piece and add strings, so we can make the whole marionette move—and later we may add a face and some clothes. The hardest part of this project was sanding the pieces down and making sure they stayed even. This was our first woodworking project at Fay—it was cool to go from plain wood to finished product.”
that will later go around my dog’s neck. I will wire the Neopixel, Flora, and battery pack onto a cloth collar using regular copper wires and conductive thread. We are even going to solder a light sensor onto the collar, so when my dog walks outside and when it's dark enough, the lights will turn on in whatever pattern I have programmed."
Light-Up Dog Collar by Nick Karlsson,
Tantivirun, eighth grade
seventh grade
“I got a new puppy this year—she’s a rescue dog, a golden mix. At night, we’d take her outside and we’d lose her because it was too dark. So I thought it would be useful to have a light-up dog collar to make it easier to keep track of her. Mr. Fearey introduced me to Neopixel LED lights. The flexible, waterproof Neopixel light strip was perfect for my project, and in partnership with a Flora [a programmable electronics unit], I programmed an amazing light show
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Shakespearean Sword by Tang “We read Romeo and Juliet in our English class, and Mr. Abeln wanted us to choose quotes from the play that stood out to us. I chose ‘The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars’ because I liked the way Romeo compared Juliet’s beauty to the night sky. I wanted to physically represent the quote in some way, and then I thought of the word star in the quote, so I chose to laser cut my sword in a star shape. I went to the Innovation Lab and drew the sword on the computer, then printed my design to the laser
I MADE THAT!
Display Board by Ethan Student, eighth grade
"I made a display board with a programmable LCD panel. First, I created a design in Inkscape and converted it to CorelDraw. Then I used the laser cutter to cut out the center of the plywood for the LCD panel. To program the display, I used an Arduino [a programmable circuit board]. I’ve worked with Arduino a few times now, and I have learned some basic coding. In order to make a project like this work, you have to run tests constantly and do a lot of troubleshooting. I love making things, particularly when you’re creating something that’s actually useful. There are so many tools available to us in the Innovation Lab that it really expands what we’re able to design and make.”
Poetry Tile by Julian Moctezuma, ninth grade
“We were studying poetry in my English class with Ms. Ripton, and she challenged us to write our own poems. I have always been inspired by the Latin phrase Carpe Diem, which means “seize the day.” I believe it’s important to follow your dreams and make the most of every moment. Each one of us in class wrote our own poems. Then we came to the Lab and created digital layouts of our poems. We chose wood for the tiles and used the laser cutter to burn in the words. This poem represents the way I look at the world.” cutter, where my quote from Romeo and Juliet was engraved on the sword. I enjoyed having an open-ended project where I could interpret the quote from Romeo and Juliet however I wanted.”
Ukulele by Noelle Morgan, eighth grade
“I had a song in my head and didn’t know how to accompany myself…so I decided I wanted to either buy or make my own ukulele. I searched online and found a cardboard ukulele tutorial and said to myself, ‘I can do this!’ At first I tried to cut the cardboard by hand in the art room, but it was too tedious. In the Lab, I figured out a way to adapt the PDF design to a file that would work with the laser cutter; then, I cut out all the pieces and the layers and glued them together with wood glue and rubber cement. I still need to add the sound board, the tuners, and the saddle, but I’m well on my way to a finished ukulele. I’ve seen people playing finished versions on YouTube and they sound good, so I’m pretty excited.”
Bat House by Grant Summermatter, ninth grade
“My project was sparked by my interest in bats and how they’re suffering from a disease—the white-nosed fungus disease—that is causing them to die by the thousands. It turns out that ultraviolet radiation kills the disease, and since bats are nocturnal, they don’t get the UV light they need from the sun. So I’m building a bat house that has a UV light installed. The bat house will have an Arduino with a distance sensor: when the bat enters the house, the light will turn on for a short time to kill off the disease. I didn’t know anything about programming prior to this project. I’m enjoying the challenge of learning something new, and I like the idea that my project could actually make a difference in the world.”
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“GLORY DAYS” IN FAY’S ART STUDIO
FAY STUDENTS CREA TE AN EXACT WORKIN G REPLICA OF BRUCE SPR INGSTEEN’S FENDER GUITAR
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FAY IN BRIEF
B
ruce Springsteen’s one-of-a-kind guitar is now a little more like two-of-a-kind— thanks to a Fay art teacher and some students who happen to be very dedicated fans of The Boss.
Over the winter, art teacher Billy Claire supervised a few eighth and ninth graders as they created an exact working replica of Springsteen’s iconic guitar. You know the one— it’s featured on the cover of Springsteen’s Born to Run album, and it’s the guitar he has used on almost every recording over the course of his career. Springsteen’s original “axe” is a Fender Esquire guitar that he picked up from famed luthier Phil Petillo in the early 1970s. For those in the know, its details make it truly unique: its features include a 1953 body, a 1957 neck, a modern six-saddle bridge, slotted pickguard screws, and rewound pickups. Back at Fay, Billy Claire hatched the idea of building a replica when eighth grader Jonathan Lamson joined his advisory group. Billy—an accomplished musician in his own right—shared Jonathan’s passion for Springsteen’s music, and Billy happened to have a few of the “building blocks” to get the project started. “I’ve had a guitar body kicking around in the basement for about four years,” Billy explains. That was the starting point. “The students researched the guitar in pictures, and we found out way more about it than we ever thought we could.” Using the guitar body as the base, the students raided Billy’s tackle box of spare guitar parts and then augmented the collection by searching eBay for some of the rarer features. To give the guitar the appropriate aged look, they painted it with tinted amber lacquer. Then the students beat it up, using a dremel tool, X-Acto knives, steel wool, and sandpaper. They threw keys at it, used a rasp to chew up the headstock on the neck, and even cut the decal to match. Compare the finished product to photos of the real thing, and you’ll be hardpressed to identify any differences. The final, most important ingredient? Making sure the replica is just as well loved as the original. But Billy Claire is confident of achieving that goal, too: “Just letting the kids play along to ‘Thunder Road’ in the art room will simulate decades of wear in just a few weeks!”
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Sports Spotlight FAY ENJOYED ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL ATHLETIC SEASON, with students in grades five through nine participating on 16 teams in five different sports. Many varsity teams posted winning records, and according to Director of Athletics Rob Feingold, Fay athletes are reaping the rewards of excellent coaching and a focus on skills and team play. 34 | Fay Magazine 2014
SPORTS SPOTLIGHT
GIRLS VARSITY LACROSSE celebrated
was led by ninth grade captain and number one singles player Jack Chen ’14, who played exceptional tennis against opposing schools’ top players. The squad will look to build on this year's progress next spring.
numerous successes this season and a winning 8-2 record. Led by captains Marina Bevacqua ’14, Meg Fearey ’14 and Sophie Ruzecki ’14, the girls racked up wins due to their focus on team play over individual glory. The team was graced with strong shooters with skillful stick-work; dedicated midfielders who consistently recovered ground balls; and stalwart defenders with quick reactions and good decision-making skills. Until their matchup against powerhouse Shore Country Day, the team's record was a remarkable 8-0. Unfazed by their loss to Shore, the team regrouped the next day and competed in the first-ever Fay Girls' Lacrosse Tournament, winning the championship trophy.
BOYS VARSITY LACROSSE also had one of its strongest seasons in recent memory. Led by ninth grade captains Strat Forrester, Neil Pedda, and Patrick Daly, the team finished with an impressive 7-4 record. Equally impressive was the team’s performance in the 2014 Junior School Lacrosse Tournament, which was hosted by Fay. The players’ speed and skill helped the team earn a spot in the third place game, where Fay ultimately fell 21 in a hard-fought game against Hillside. The team closed out the season with a strong finish, defeating a talented Roxbury Latin team 15-5. TRACK & FIELD continued to shine as one of the most dominant teams in the league, with its co-ed team members running, jumping and throwing their way to a 5-0 record. Despite a small number of returning runners, the team found itself bursting at the seams with new, eager runners ready to contribute. During practices, the team focused on improving endurance, form,
VARSITY SOFTBALL finished their season 3-4-1, led by captains Lucy Noel ’14 and Corina Kotidis ’15. Noel excelled offensively with a .667 batting average, as well as three doubles and eight RBI. Kotidis served as the backbone of the defense at shortstop. In the absence of any returning pitchers this year, eighth graders Jordan Winer and Avery Light both stepped up to fill that role, combining for 45 strikeouts over 30 innings pitched.
and speed while learning new throwing and jumping techniques. In competition, both the boys and girls finished over .500. The highlight of the year came at the Fenn Relays, when both teams placed in the top three in every relay event. Both the girls’ and boys’ 4x100M and 4x400M relay teams finished first, exacting revenge on the only two teams that defeated them this season.
VARSITY BASEBALL showed significant improvement throughout the spring, earning a season record of 3-5. A high point was Fay’s decisive win over a strong Milton team. Eighth grader Andrew Daphnis had his best day on the mound, recording eight strikeouts while holding Milton to three hits through five innings. In the home half of the fifth, Fay broke out, scoring 6 runs on 7 hits, including RBI doubles by captains Noah Traylor ’14 and Dan Stern ’14. The team went on to record an 8-0 shutout win, which epitomized the dedication, determination, and overall effort the team put into each practice throughout the year.
GIRLS VARSITY TENNIS had a stellar season, going 8-0 against very competitive teams. Led by captains Bella Humpreys ’14 and Catherine Qiao ’15, the players focused on fast, strategic play, keeping their opponents on the run. With the exception of the graduating captains, almost the entire team will return to compete for Fay next year. BOYS VARSITY TENNIS also had a positive season, despite a 2-5 record. With only two returning players from last year, the relatively inexperienced team showed great improvement throughout the season and fought hard to earn wins against Belmont Hill School and Hillside School. The team
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Color Competition 2014: Reds vs. Whites
I
t was another beautiful spring day—and yet another memorable Founders’ Weekend Color Competition, full of impassioned rivalries, feats of athletic prowess, and good old-fashioned fun. As in past years, the morning began as the color officers rallied the troops with face paint and burn-inyour-brain cheers…then it was off to MacAusland Field, where the events ranged from beanbag tosses and obstacle courses to foot races, long jumps, and of course, the storied tug-of-war. Teams were evenly matched this year: by the end of the day, the Whites squeaked ahead to a 1057-993 victory. The White team may revel in their victory for now, but without a doubt the Reds will be ready to challenge come the fall!
Color Officers for 2014-15 Reds President: Anthony D’Angelo Vice President: Chaeyeon Lim Officers: Rebecca Bauer and Keebum Kim Whites President: Tigran Markaryan Vice President: Ivan Chernyak Officers: Jillian Carroll and Anikka Fredericksen
Founders’ Weekend 2014
his Founders’ Weekend brought many classes together to remember and reconnect with old friends as well as former and current faculty and staff. Fay welcomed members of the Classes of 1994 (20th reunion), 1989 (25th reunion), and 1979 (35th reunion), among others. Of special note was a breakfast held for members of the Class of 1949, who were celebrating their 65th reunion; they unveiled a special plaque honoring their classmate and former headmaster A. Brooks Harlow, Jr. ’49, who passed away in April (you can read more about Mr. Harlow on pages 40 and 41 of this magazine). At the Founders’ Dinner on Saturday night, the Alumni Council presented two special awards. David Paquette ’87, President of the Alumni Council, presented the Alumni
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Tyler Keefe ’99, Mae Baldwin, and Colin Ryan ’99.
Carol and Rob Gustavson with Donald Stoneham ’49.
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Award to Rae Eun Sung ’94 for her personal and career achievements as well as her efforts on behalf of Fay. A former member of the Alumni Council and a current member of the Board of Trustees, Rae Eun was a boarder at Fay from 1992-1994; following Fay, she graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall and Stanford University. For 20 years, Rae Eun has been actively engaged in leading the alumni community in Korea, arranging meetings and activities for Korean alumni in order to strengthen their connections to Fay. Rae Eun is the Vice President of the Youngone Corporation, a company her father founded 40 years ago, which produces clothing and outdoor equipment for major international distributors such as North Face. “Among her many professional and personal obligations, Rae Eun’s dedicated service to Fay has remained unwavering,” David Paquette noted, “and her actions clearly demonstrate the ‘You can if you will’ mindset.”
“Fay is where I learned discipline, integrity, the importance of hard work, how to think for myself, how to love one another, how to have high aims and vision, and to find out my potential…Fay is the kind of place that identifies the good in you, cheers you to aim higher and succeed, and supports you through a community of believers, friends, and lifetime mentors.” –Rae Eun Sung ’94, receipient of the 2014 Fay School Alumni Award
Rachel Sandler Diamond ’87 P’15 ’19, Holly Parmenter ’78, and Stephanie Sandler ’79 P’13 ’15.
FOUNDERS’ WEEKEND
David Paquette also presented the Faculty Appreciation Award to former faculty member Barbara “Barbie” Ramsdell, who taught English in the International Student Program beginning in 1989. In 2000 she was recognized for her master teaching with the Douglas E. Mann Teaching Chair, which is given to a teacher who has a strong sense of integrity and who has gone above and beyond what is expected to make unique contributions to the Fay community. Since retiring in 2006, Barbie has continued to contribute to the Fay community as a substitute teacher. “During her time at Fay, Barbie lent compassion, vision, and stability to a department that touched the lives of so many young students,” said David. “She will always be remembered for her warm smile and kind heart by ISP alumni, many of whom came to know Mrs. Ramsdell as a second mother when they were so far from home.”
Will McCue ’04, Shannon Leggett, Alyson McLaughlin '04, and Luke Meleney '04.
Former faculty member Lee Williams with Steve White, former Head of School.
Barbara Ramsdell, former faculty member and recipient of the 2014 Faculty Appreciation Award.
Farley Urmston '89, Alice Fiddian-Green '89, Heidi Kisiel Reiss ’89, and Christina Benander ’89.
Former faculty members Joanna and Bill Wishart.
Daintry Duffy Zaterka '88 P '19 and Elana Vasilopoulos Whelan '92 P'22 '23.
Remembering Brooks Harlow
A.Brooks Harlow, Jr. ’49, Fay's fifth Head of School, passed away on April 15, 2014, following a long illness. Brooks is survived by his three children, Alice Harlow Ronconi ’75, Elizabeth “Libby” Harlow Robinson ’78, and A. Brooks Harlow III ’81, and six grandchildren.
“An institution like Fay becomes truly beneficial to all when the people involved strive for harmony, decency, and an awareness of each individual’s needs.” –A. Brooks Harlow, Jr. ’49
Brooks Harlow was born in Stamford, Connecticut on June 13, 1934. He attended Fay School in sixth and seventh grade, and went on to graduate from Groton School and Trinity College. From 1959 to 1969, Brooks taught at King School, Rectory School, and Rye Country Day School. In 1969 he began his distinguished tenure as the fifth Headmaster of Fay School.
During the following nineteen years, Brooks presided over a number of significant developments in the history of Fay, including the addition of ninth grade, the shift to coeducation, and the doubling of Fay’s enrollment. As David Harris ’58, past President of the Board of Trustees, recently noted, “Fay School has had two eras, and the second era began in 1969 when Brooks Harlow became Headmaster. He brought Fay into the modern world of education.” Through his larger-than-life personality and outstanding leadership, Brooks extended Fay’s reach and strengthened its reputation across the United States and throughout the world.
Alumni and faculty from the Harlow Era also remember Brooks’ wife of 51 years, Miriam “Mimi” Baxter Harlow, who passed away in December 2010. Brooks and Mimi served as a remarkable team and are recalled fondly by all who were touched by their enthusiasm and kindness. Throughout their retirement years in Maine and Florida, the Harlows’ extraordinary loyalty and commitment to Fay School never waned.
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REMEMBRANCE
One Alumnus Remembers For me, Brooks Harlow was a towering figure in education—literally so, when I was a seventhgrade kid in 1975, newly arrived at Fay School from the Philippines. He combined a strong emphasis on academics with an insistence that children under his care be both loved and motivated so that they could achieve their best in the classroom and on the playing field and, more important, so that they would each feel part of the school community and contribute to it. Mr. Harlow had the foresight to know that international students could bring a new and crucial dimension to Fay life, and that it was essential to make them feel welcome and safe while studying in the United States. I first met Mr. Harlow when, after the end of the morning assembly on the first day of school, I was bewildered at what I thought was the surging crowd in Scollay Square. I suddenly found myself in front of Mr. Harlow. Knees knocking, I looked up to see him looking down at me—a scary moment. He turned out to be a gentle giant who asked if I needed help to find my classroom. He then requested another student going my way to guide me to where I had to be.
The Class of 1949 celebrated its 65th reunion at the School over Founders’ Weekend and used the occasion to honor their classmate Brooks Harlow. They unveiled a plaque that will be placed permanently on the first floor of the Harlow Gymnasium in Brooks’ memory. Those who attended the reunion included Tony Abbott ’49, Nelson Aldrich ’49, Hal Hamilton ’49, John Mars ’49 with wife Adrienne, and Donald Stoneham ’49 with wife Ellen. The classmates had a dinner at Tavolino Restaurant in Westborough on Friday evening, and then breakfast at Fay House on Saturday morning, where the plaque for Brooks was unveiled. To date, the class has raised over $12,000 for Fay’s Annual Fund in Brooks’ memory.
The kindly soul was never far beneath the stern facade. And certainly, with Mimi Harlow, the consummate alma mater, by his side, they were a formidable team that defined Fay and made it a school of excellence, where students, particularly those from abroad, felt secure and cared for. For me, that first year in the United States was a crucial and life-changing start to a new beginning in a strange land that led to a decade of experiencing the best of American education, a critical part of the preparation for life. It all started with Mr. and Mrs. Harlow at Fay, and I will never forget that. –Alejandro Reyes ‘78
If you would like to make a gift to the A. Brooks Harlow, Jr. Scholarship Fund in Brooks’ memory, please contact Ann Wardwell, Director of Advancement, at awardwell@fayschool.org.
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Fay Welcomes New Trustees Fay is delighted to welcome four new members to the Board of Trustees. They bring many years of experience, wisdom, and expertise in their fields, and we are grateful for their commitment to Fay.
William T. Cannady P ’86, ’88, GP ’15 Will Cannady is an architect and teacher. In his architectural practice, he has designed and built over two hundred projects, which have been honored with sixty awards for outstanding design. A professor of architecture at Rice University since 1964, he teaches comprehensive design principles applied to real-world projects. The Investment Building Design Studio, which he directs, investigates real estate development projects and provides opportunities for cross-discipline collaboration with consultants and MBA students. He also teaches in the school of engineering, where architecture students collaborate with senior engineering students on design projects, and he won the Educator of the Year Award from the Houston chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2010. Will has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and a master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1983. He is the father of Sarah Cannady Chinn ’86 and Lucie Cannady ’88, and the grandfather of Lloyd Cannady Chinn ’15.
Dennis Hoffman P ’13, ’14, ’18 Dennis Hoffman is Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Programs, at EMC, where he is responsible for EMC’s service provider strategy and related initiatives. A 25-year veteran of the high-tech industry, his previous responsibilities include the overall performance of EMC’s Virtual Computer Environment (VCE) with Cisco and VMware; the strategy development, execution, and financial performance of RSA’s Data Security Business Unit; and strategic planning, strategic partnerships, and business development for the RSA Division as a whole. Dennis was CEO and co-founder of Storigen Systems. He has also held strategy and engineering roles at companies including Avid Technology, Marakon Associates, Eastman Kodak, and Polaroid Corporation. Dennis graduated from Union College with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and holds an MBA from Harvard University. He is the father of Ryan ’13, Katie ’14, Dylan ’18, and Lucas ’18.
Philip “Flip” R. Morgan ’62 Philip Morgan was CEO of Morgan Construction Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, for over 23 years, until it was acquired by Siemens VAI in 2008. Morgan Construction, a steel manufacturing business, was a family business, founded in 1888 by Flip’s great-great-grandfather, Charles Hill Morgan, and managed by five generations of the family. The company designs and manufactures equipment for metals industries worldwide, with subsidiaries in China, India, Brazil and the UK. While at Morgan, Philip worked closely with his brother Dan Morgan ’63, who was president of the China organization and Senior Vice President of the company. Philip graduated from Phillips Academy and Harvard University, and he holds an MBA from Harvard University.
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NEW TRUSTEES AND BOARD OF VISITORS
Nell Wilson Reynolds P ’15, ’17, ’19 Nell Reynolds has served on the Executive Board of the Fay Parents’ Association for the past four years. She has served as the Executive Vice President of Fundraising and Vice President of the Parents’ Association, and she was the PA President for the 2013-2014 school year. She is also the Fay varsity field hockey coach and JV girls’ lacrosse coach. Prior to her involvement at Fay, Nell served on the Board of Directors of The Lincoln Nursery School, a cooperative preschool in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She worked for many years as a high school English teacher and coach at Newton Country Day School, The Gunnery, and New Canaan High School. Nell graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall; she earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in English education at SUNY Cortland. She is the mother of Peter ’15, Andrea ’17, and Emma ’19.
Fay’s Board of Visitors held their annual spring meeting on April 10. The meeting started off with a welcome from Trustee Jim Shay ’78 and an update from Head of School Rob Gustavson. The half-day event included tours of the Primary School and the Innovation Lab, as well as presentations from Head of Primary School Anne Bishop, Science Department Chair Tim McCauley, Math Department Chair Julie Porrazzo, and Director of Admission Beth Whitney. Ann Wardwell, Director of Advancement, led a discussion about the 150th anniversary of the founding of Fay, which will be celebrated in 2016. (pictured right)
On May 1, Fay held a special dinner to celebrate the retirement of four trustees from the Board of Trustees: Tom McKean ’64, Paula Bentinck-Smith, Mike Egan, and Betsy Kellogg. Those assembled—which included Head of School Rob Gustavson and current trustees—thanked the retiring trustees for their years of dedicated service and their commitment to Fay’s continued vitality.
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Fay School
Commencement 2014
Founders’ Medal winner Kika Weirich-Freiberg with Head of School Rob Gustavson.
2013-14 Red Color President Francesca D’Angelo ’14 smiles as her brother, Anthony D’Angelo ’15, dons the “red jacket” as Red Color President for 2014-15. The inside of the jacket is embroidered with the names of the past color presidents.
Fay Celebrates 148th Commencement he sun shone brightly on Fay’s 57 ninth graders as faculty, staff, family, and friends gathered to celebrate the School’s 148th Commencement Exercises on June 7.
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Ninth grade class president James Chou.
The graduating ninth graders received their diplomas, and many students were singled out for special awards marking their effort and achievements. The winner of the 2014 Founders’ Medal was Francisca ‘Kika’ Weirich-Freiberg, a four-year boarding student from New Jersey who has distinguished herself as the ninth grade top scholar, a dormitory proctor, a student ambassador for the Admission Office, and an avid member of Fay’s drama and choral programs. She was also this year’s winner of the Seaver R. Gilcreast English Award, the Philip G. Stevens ’14 Science Award, and the Arline and Harvey Steinberg History Award. Kika will attend Phillips Academy this fall. During the ceremony, Head of School Rob Gustavson presented the Laura Ducey Dedicated Service Award to Fiona Carr, the Assistant to the Head of School. Rob honored Fiona’s many contributions to school life since joining Fay’s staff in 2007, noting, “Whether managing the school calendar, organizing Board of Trustees meetings, or overseeing major school events such as Parents’ Weekend and Commencement, she is thoughtful, careful, organized, and efficient. Her cheerful demeanor, positive attitude, and constructive mindset serve as a model of professionalism for other staff members throughout the School.”
Philip Stevens ’54 was on hand this year to present the award named for his father, the Philip G. Stevens ’14 Science Award, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his father’s graduation from Fay.
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This year’s Commencement speaker was Fabrizio Zangrilli ’88, a world-renowned alpinist and mountain guide who has scaled most of the world’s top peaks, with seven ascents to K2 between 2001 and 2011 alone (you can read more about Fabrizio in the feature on page 12). In his speech, Fabrizio referred to Fay’s 2013-14 schoolwide theme, “Serious Fun,” noting that in order to live a life of serious fun as an alpinist—and to make a viable living—he has had to take his play seriously, “with thousands of hours of practice, learning, and dedication.”
2014 COMMENCEMENT
Meg Fearey ’14, winner of the Annie Papadellis Award for Excellence in Girls’ Athletics, chats with Annie Papadellis ’07 (who won the same award in 2007). This is the first year the award has been named in Annie’s honor.
Fiona Carr, winner of the 2014 Laura Ducey Dedicated Service Award, with Head of School Rob Gustavson.
“Every time you admire someone’s skill— whether an actor, coach, politician, doctor, or athlete—try your best to figure out just how many hours of dedication it took for them to get there.” - Fabrizio Zangrilli ’88
Fabrizio Zangrilli ’88.
Fabrizio talked about the many hours of painstaking training and study it has taken to prepare himself for the physical and mental challenges of climbing—not to mention running a business.
he said, “I am fortunate to drive by the half-pipe on my way to work every morning and see just how much work all of the best athletes put into training, practicing over and over, failing and falling over and over, until the motion becomes second nature. Every time you see greatness in motion, do your best to see through it; see the hours of practice, see the coaching, the science, and the hard work that makes the ‘art’ seem so easy.” “My challenge to you this summer,” he concluded, “is every time you admire someone’s skill—whether an actor, coach, politician, doctor, or athlete—try your best to figure out just how many hours of dedication it took for them to get there.”
And in sharing his experience of taking on the world’s most dangerous ascents, Fabrizio talked about the benefits of facing new challenges: “I have been lost in Tibet, freezing cold in Antarctica, scared on the side of Everest, tired and lonely while alone on some of the biggest mountains,” he said, “yet from all these experiences, beautiful moments grew—summits shared with friends and clients, dreams that really seemed impossible finally realized, and the joy of helping other people experience the beauty and wonder of all that our planet has to offer.” Fabrizio emphasized the importance of dedicating oneself to the hard work of improving one’s skills, little by little, day by day. Noting his admiration of the athletes who compete in the X Games, which takes place every year in his hometown of Aspen,
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FAY STUDENTS ACHIEVE GREAT RESULTS IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACEMENT PROCESS by Stuart H. Rosenwald, Director of Secondary School Placement
2014
CLASS OF
Fay students fared extremely well in the secondary school placement process this year. On March 10, our applicants were admitted to numerous secondary schools and, on April 10, our students made their final decisions. Students made individual choices that were best for them, finding the best “match” rather than simply following their Fay friends or making decisions based on perceived prestige. The results are particularly encouraging this year, when one considers how competitive the most selective independent secondary schools have become in recent years, primarily due to the influx of applications from a growing number of countries that had been underrepresented in the past. In such a competitive environment, it is
interesting to note why Fay students do so well in the process: Fay students work hard in their classes and are very well-prepared academically for secondary school; many Fay students have special talents, often in athletics, art, drama, or music; Fay students are highly involved in the Fay community, particularly in connection with service-oriented pursuits, and the secondary schools know that our students will be strong participants in their communities; Fay teachers and placement counselors write detailed, honest, and optimistic letters of recommendation; and Fay’s four placement counselors advocate tirelessly for Fay students by communicating frequently with secondary school admission officers. Congratulations to our graduates and to our eighth graders who will be attending a new school next year!
Karim Al Afifi St. George’s School
Soo Hyun Alma Hong Phillips Exeter Academy
Jeremy Allen Lising Navarro Hotchkiss School
Marina Bevacqua Middlesex School
Isabella Rose Humphreys Governor’s Academy
Daisuke Negishi St. James School
Tyler Hyun Bui Worcester Academy
William Grant Jarvis Pomfret School
Lucy Katharine Noel Westminster School
Mahaniya Ravi Chanrai Northfield Mount Hermon School
Anissa Nia Joseph Westminster School
Joseph Jung Pape Brooks School
Kyuri Celine Kim Deerfield Academy
Min Joon Park Blair Academy
Andrew William Laquerre St. Mark’s School
Neil Pedda St. George’s School
Dawon Annie Lee Phillips Academy
Tate Carter Perkins New Hampton School
Stephanie Li Middlesex School
Joseph Richardson Ragan Boston University Academy
Francesca Rose D’Angelo St. Mark’s School
Wenhao Leo Liang New Hampton School
Savion Justin Rivers Deerfield Academy
Patrick Daly Tabor Academy
Yutong Ella Liang Deerfield Academy
Douglas Overton Robbins St. Paul’s School
Warren Kabir Dev* Worcester Academy
William Michael Mandelbaum Loomis Chaffee School
Sophie Rose Ruzecki St. Mark’s School
Halle Dretler Beaver Country Day School
Julian Moctezuma Tecnologico de Monterey
Margaret Sarah Fearey St. Paul’s School
Seo Ho David Moon Phillips Academy
Noah Dean Scott Northfield Mount Hermon School
William Stratford Forrester Pomfret School
Yuwon Elaine Moon Peddie School
Kathryn Rose Hoffman Milton Academy
Avery Joseph Nasworthy Francis Parker Charter School
Kaige Jack Chen Brooks School Shiqi Kitty Chen St. Mark’s School James Chou Northfield Mount Hermon School
Ewan James Slater Northfield Mount Hermon School Abigail Evelyn-Fay Stanley Kent School Victoria Steelman St. Andrew’s School, Delaware Daniel Maxim Stern Lawrence Academy Ben Sukboontip Loomis Chaffee School Grant Richard Summermatter Kimball Union Academy Michael Tobin Loomis Chaffee School Noah Mackenzie Traylor Belmont Hill School Daniel Wang Lawrenceville School Francisca Sofia Weirich-Freiberg Phillips Academy ZhuoRan Flaura Xia Deerfield Academy Sang Sunnie Zhang St. George’s School
Jin Young Rachel Shin Loomis Chaffee School
Lutong Tim Zhao Brooks School
Yoon Soo Suzy Shin Hotchkiss School
Xiameng Helena Zhao St. Stephen’s Episcopal School
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*“Niners,” students who have attended Fay since first grade
FAY COMMENCEMENT COMMENCEMENT 2014
Ninth grade applicants: Secondary schools that two or more Fay graduates will attend: Deerfield Academy (4), Northfield Mount Hermon School (4), St. Mark’s School (4), Brooks School (3), Loomis Chaffee School (4), Phillips Academy (Andover) (3), St. George’s School (3), Hotchkiss School (2), Middlesex School (2), New Hampton School (2), Pomfret School (2), St. Paul’s School (2), Westminster School (2), Worcester Academy (2). Eighth grade applicants: 43 of 97 eighth graders used Fay’s placement services – 32 will attend a secondary school; 10 will return to Fay; 1 is undecided. Secondary schools that two or more Fay eighth graders will attend: St. Mark’s School (5), Middlesex School (4), Groton School (3), Noble and Greenough School (2), Pomfret School (2), St. Andrew’s School (2), Delaware (2), Worcester Academy (2).
Pictured here are the “octavi,” those members of the Class of 2015 who have been at Fay since first grade. Left to right: Will Ridgley, Jonathan Lamson, Jordan Winer, Jack Thalmann, Caroline Dawson, Zoe Carlson, Ethan Student, Mimi Larrieux, Corina Kotidis, Peter Reynolds, Brandon Depietri, and Maggie Ashley.
Coleman James Ahn Rivers School
Jared Kelly Viewpoint School
Ji Yoon Ahn Phillips Exeter Academy
Logan Riggs King St. Mark’s School
Zoe Griscom Carlson* St. Paul’s School
Corina Peli Kotidis* Middlesex School
Yifan Vincent Chen St. Andrew’s School, Delaware
Jonathan Stuart Lamson* Groton School
Hae In Katie Chung Groton School
Micaelle Fanie Larrieux* Middlesex School
Juan Pablo Cortina The American School Foundation, Mexico
Avery Jean Light Middlesex School
Caroline Miller Dawson* Dana Hall School Alexander Dubson The American School Foundation, Mexico
Alvaro Martinez del Campo Instituto Cubres Bosques, Mexico
Hugo Petricioli Oxford Institute, Mexico Garrett Matthew Prucher Hopkinton High School Alexandra Paige Pryshlak Middlesex School Jiayi Catherine Qiao Groton School Peter McCleary Reynolds* Holderness School Louis Cole Scumaci Worcester Academy Shivam Om Sharma St. Mark’s School
Noelle Morgan Bullis School
India Grace Shay Suffield Academy
Patricio Dunand Colegio Vista Hermosa, Mexico
Kimberly Constance Mulholland St. Mark’s School
Rada BenBen Singhasaneh Loomis Chaffee School
Ana Somohano Guerrero Eton School, Mexico City
John Namgung Concord Academy
Emma June Gustavson Noble and Greenough School
Alfonso Pelaez Tomas Moro School, Mexico
Raleigh Anne Hiler Lawrence Academy
Fernando Pelaez Tomas Moro School, Mexico
Brandon Patrick Jones Milton Academy Catherine Leigh Kasparyan Noble and Greenough School
Francisco Pelaez Tomas Moro School, Mexico
2015
CLASS OF
Ethan Ross Student* Worcester Academy Alexandria Flora Tegan Pomfret School Jack Peter Thalmann* St. Mark’s School Robert Scott Turnbull St. Andrew’s School, Delaware Nicholas Gannett West St. Mark’s School Jordan Layah Winer* Pomfret School www.fayschool.org | 49
COLLEGE DESTINATIONS Mary Abu Marist College
Hannah Freudenberger Salve Regina College
Mac Manion Cornell University
Emma Baumbach Furman University
Jessica Gibson Bucknell University
Karina Masri Northeastern University
Olivia Blydenburgh University of Miami
Norah Hogan Tisch School of the Arts at New York University
Alexander Nassar Washington University in St. Louis
Kavan Canekeratne University of San Diego
Pin-Shin Stephanie Huang University of California, Berkeley
Itohan Orobator Cornell University
Alev Cansever Brandeis University
Mary Hutto College of Charleston
William Carney Fairfield University
Xiaowen Wendy Ke New York University
Rebecca Chernick Brown University
Nolan Kislauskis Fairfield University
Jane Chiavelli Washington and Lee University
Pin-Chieh Jeremy Lee University of California, Los Angeles
Tossaporn Todd Chulavalaivong University of Zurich
Sung Hyun Kevin Lee Emory University
Samuel Ward Bowdoin College
Benjamin Clark High Point University
Pak Kin Christopher Lai University of California, Berkeley
Jun Yabuki Miami University of Ohio
Sean Crotty University of Redlands
Mingzhan David Li Wake Forest University
Francisco Zeno College of Mount Saint Vincent
Riley Duncan Lafayette University
Anne Ling Ithaca College
Lily Zezza Northeastern University
Kaelen Fitzpatrick Ithaca College
William Lyons Washington University in St. Louis
William Brine College of the Holy Cross
2011
CLASS OF
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Timothy Shay Hampshire College Julia Smith Hamilton College Samuel Stamas Denison University Griffin Starkey Union College Jackson Venditti University of Tampa
Special Awards
NINTH GRADE DEPARTMENTAL AWARDS
NINTH GRADE ATHLETIC AWARDS
DRAMA AWARD: Yoon Soo Suzy Shin
CRUMP-MOODY AWARD FOR EARNEST EFFORT IN GIRLS’ ATHLETICS: Marina Bevacqua
NINTH GRADE SPECIAL AWARDS
ART AWARD: Xiameng Helena Zhao
WINDELER IMPROVEMENT AWARD: William Michael Mandelbaum
ARION FOUNDATION AWARD (MUSIC): Jin Young Rachel Shin
THE A. BROOKS HARLOW, JR. FLAG AWARD: Jeremy Allen Lising Navarro
SEAVER R. GILCREAST ENGLISH AWARD: Francisca Sofia Weirich-Freiberg
M.J. LAFOLEY POTERIS MODO VELIS AWARD: Kathryn Rose Hoffman JOPLING THOUGHTFULNESS AWARD: Isabella Rose Humphreys HEAD OF SCHOOL AWARD: Lucy Katharine Noel Wenhao Leo Liang EDWARDS AWARD FOR CITIZENSHIP: Noah Mackenzie Traylor FOUNDERS’ MEDAL: Francisca Sofia Weirich-Freiberg
PHILIP G. STEVENS ’14 SCIENCE AWARD: Francisca Sofia Weirich-Freiberg MATHEMATICS AWARD: Seo Ho “David” Moon
WHITEHOUSE AWARD FOR EARNEST EFFORT IN BOYS’ ATHLETICS: Jeremy Allen Lising Navarro MORRIS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN BOYS’ ATHLETICS: Noah Mackenzie Traylor ANNIE PAPADELLIS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN GIRLS’ ATHLETICS: Margaret Sarah Fearey
DEPARTMENTAL AWARDS
THE ARLINE AND HARVEY STEINBERG HISTORY AWARD: Francisca Sofia Weirich-Freiberg
CHOATE PUBLIC SPEAKING AWARD: Anthony Michael D’Angelo
WORLD LANGUAGE AWARD: Douglas Overton Robbins
ESL AWARD: Wenhao Leo Liang
WELLNESS DEPARTMENT AWARD: Isabella Rose Humphreys
SCULL AWARD FOR COMPOSITION: Eliza Sternlicht ANNIE LEAVITT MEMORIAL AWARD: Ethan Ross Student MORRELL AWARD FOR AMERICAN HISTORY: Geethika Bathini
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SCHOOL COMMUNITY AWARDS FRANCIS H. TOMES MEMORIAL AWARD: Francisco Pelaez BRUCE HIGBEE STORKERSON MEMORIAL AWARD: Robert Straube Harper III WALDO B. FAY MEMORIAL AWARD: Caroline Elizabeth Fearey HARVARD CLUB BOOK AWARD: Francis Catherine Leigh Kasparyan HENRY U. HARRIS SR. AWARD: Jillian Carroll ELIZABETH REINKE SERVICE AWARD: Anissa Nia Joseph
SCHOLASTIC AWARDS Highest Cumulative Average GRADE NINE Francisca Sofia Weirich-Freiberg
GRADE EIGHT Catherine Leigh Kasparyan
GRADE SEVEN Joshua Christopher Fang
DORM CITIZENS MIDDLE FLOOR BOYS: Tom Sukboontip SIXTH FORM: Daria Plokhova TOP FLOOR BOYS: Mahaniya Ravi Chanrai TOP FLOOR GIRLS: Isabella Rose Humphreys VILLAGE BOYS: Brandon Schuster VILLAGE GIRLS: Dajung Lim WEBSTER HOUSE: Jillian Carroll
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Primary School Moving Up Ceremony
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2014 COMMENCEMENT
Lower School Closing Exercises CITIZENSHIP AWARDS Grade 3
EFFORT AWARDS Grade 3
Tyler Huong-Tao Stevenson Dylan Michael Prefontaine
Elise Christine Rueppel Avery Campbell King Braden Edward Johnsen Lauren Field Glaser
Grade 4 Sofia Ann Mongillo Carter Hudson Pomponio
Grade 5 Adriana I. Marrone Siena Rae Liberatore
Grade 6
Grade 4 Marianne Vance Lyons Sydni Leah Williams Alexander Joseph Picard Annalisa Catherine Fang
Grade 5 Holden Alexander LeBlanc Meenakshi Raghu Menon Thomas Joseph Flathers
SIXTH GRADE SCHOLAR AWARD
Angela Catherine Scumaci SCHOLAR RUNNER-UP
Sofia Diana López
Grade 6 Catherine Ann Pellini Hannah Rose Hudson Henry Yi Cheng Yong, Jr. Ashley Joy Picard Sophie Elizabeth Student
EUGENE KIM O’DONNELL MEMORIAL AWARD
Jillian Taylor Robertson ELIZABETH H. SCATTERGOOD MEMORIAL PRIZE
Benjamin Dutter West
Alexandra Brennan Mohn Jacob Matthew Calka
Ben West, winner of the Elizabeth H. Scattergood Memorial Prize, and Sixth Grade Scholar Angela Scumaci.
Sixth grade speakers Henry Gustavson and Lara Caradimitropoulo.
Jillian Robertson, winner of the Eugene Kim O’Donnell Award.
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CLASS NOTES 1936 FAIR GOODALE celebrated his 91st birthday on May 4 and writes, “Nothing of great note has happened since my last report a year ago. Our flock remains at four great grandchildren, fifteen grandchildren, and five children. They are all thriving, as is my wife of 69 years. I'm doing well.”
1945 From PAUL HERTELENDY: “One unusual and inwardly enriching pastime: Saturdays in spring and fall, I referee soccer matches for our youth programs in and around Oakland, California—mostly young people ages 11-14. Unfortunately, that requires some sprinting up and down the field to follow fast breaks, even with the younger teams, putting creaky octogenarian bodies to the test. But it’s an inspiration doing it as
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I capture the energy and enthusiasm of the kids, who, at that age, are really into the spirit of the game, even when not always adept. I think back to Fay in the fall of 1943, when I, as a mere 11-yearold, ran around the soccer field uninhibitedly, with comparable limitations. Soccer programs have mushroomed all over America since that era, even outside the schools, and they are highly democratic: boys’ teams, girls’ teams, personnel of every ethnicity playing side by side, some kids not even English-speaking. I like to think that soccer brings them all together in a relatively harmonious display of teamwork! And then, even if they go far afield, or maybe only to the beach, they have a common link with total strangers as long as there’s a ball to kick around!”
1949 THORNTON MARSHALL shares that he and his wife are planning to fly to London for their granddaughter’s christening: “We plan to visit the Wellington and World War II museums, among others. Lambchops at Charles Dickens' restaurant, Rules, is on the itinerary as well.” In his note, Thornton offered “warm regards to TONY ABBOTT, our ‘Primus.’”
1953 DAVID WHITTEMORE writes, “Had a great two-week trip in February to Puerto Vallarta and Sayulita in Mexico. Sorry to learn of Brooks Harlow's passing. He certainly helped make Fay the place it is today.”
CLASS NOTES
1954 JORDAN MOTT let us know that after almost forty years of living on the west coast, he has relocated to Virginia to be closer to his family.
1956 TY FULLER writes, “Just returned from a two-week trip to the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon River. We saw animals and sites that simply don't exist anywhere else in the world. The temperatures ranged from the low 50s to over 100 degrees. It was quite an experience!”
1957 DAVID RASSIN checked in with this update: “My wife, Glenda, and I continue to travel—Russia, Hawaii, and India this year. I also continue to enjoy nature photography and our grandchildren.” CARLOS JORGE GARCES ’57 and WILLIAM “SANDY” SAWYER ’63 met this fall while vacationing at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, Florida. Sandy, who lives in
William “Sandy” Sawyer ’63 and Carlos Garces ’57
Rhode Island, had never met Carlos, who lives in Colombia. They struck up a casual conversation and discovered their shared experience!
FAY BOOKSHELF: NEW BOOKS BY FAY ALUMNI The Angel Dialogues by Tony Abbott ’49 (Lorimer Press) A NARRATIVE WRITTEN AS A SERIES OF LINKED POEMS, The Angel Dialogues tells of a poet who has prayed for a muse but receives instead an angel who teaches him much about what it means to be a human being. Tony is the author of four critical studies, two novels and six books of poetry, including the Pulitzer nominated The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat. Learn more at www.lorimerpress.com/2014/01/the-angel-dialogues.
The Unknown Henry Miller by Arthur Hoyle ’54 (Skyhorse/Arcade) HOYLE’S BIOGRAPHY TRACES THE CAREER OF AUTHOR ARTHUR MILLER through his period of American obscurity, focusing on his Big Sur years. It was during this period that he wrote and published more than twenty books and pamphlets, painted watercolors, married and divorced twice, and raised two children. Drawing extensively on correspondence between Miller and the members of his literary circle–Anaïs Nin, Lawrence Durrell, Alfred Perlès, James Laughlin, Wallace Fowlie, Huntington Cairns, and Emil Schnellock–and examining closely key Miller texts, the book presents a portrait of Miller, the man and artist, as he struggles to find an American audience for his work and to reach his personal goal of spiritual self-realization.
1962 McKIM SYMINGTON has now fully retired from the CIA and is enjoying volunteering at the CIA
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CLASS NOTES
Museum, the Holocaust Museum, the National Gallery of History and Arts, and the National Firearms Museum. He writes, “Harry Reinke would love the NFM—it’s a national treasure!”
1964 TOM KANE writes, “Fifty years ago, I first visited Fay from my home in Guatemala. This year I got a tour of a vastly changed campus, courtesy of classmate TOM McKEAN. Very impressive. The last classmate I remember seeing was ROBIN LLOYD, a reporter for a major news organization, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the eve of the Falklands War, 1982!”
1977 MELINDA HOHMAN HOLGATE has this “small world” story: “While at the Head of the Charles in October, I was talking to a young man with a beautiful Red Sox shirt on that I had admired. Our conversation led to the fact that we were both Fay alumni! He is ROBERT BENTINCK SMITH '98. It was fun to stroll down memory lane a bit and find our Fay School commonalities, even though we are 21 years apart!”
1978 JIM SHAY reports that his daughter, INDIA SHAY ’15, will attend Suffield Academy in the fall. He writes, “India entered Fay in the third grade, and while she is sad to be moving on she is truly grateful to everyone at Fay who made her years there so enriching and fun!” We've also heard news of LOCH LEWIS. Loch spent 25 years in the Navy as an EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) technician and then worked as a consultant in RCIED (Radio Controlled IED) jamming equipment and practices,
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analyzing insurgent capabilities and techniques. Last year, he was accepted (from thousands of applicants) as one of 40 master's degree candidates for a two-year computer science program at the University of Pennsylvania. He plans to start a brand new career and his own company, focusing on computer security.
1984
October 2013 in San Francisco. We still live in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and we travel frequently—the great benefit of working for an airline. I also see EMILY PEARL a couple times a year.”
1988 BLAIR NEWBERRY writes, “I'm still in my hometown of Austin, Texas.
CHRIS LAMAR-STERLING is working as a nurse at Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut.
1985 BURTON GRAY checked in to let us know that he and his wife Yardley are still living in Washington, D.C. with daughters Courson, 10, Abigail, 8, and son Burton Robert, 1 ½.
1986 On February 24, Chatham Hall, an all-girls school in Virginia, announced the appointment of SUZANNE WALKER BUCK as the School’s next Rector. Since 2007, Suzanne has been the Director of Enrollment and Management at New Hampton School in New Hampshire, and prior to that, she was the Director of Admission and Director of the International Student Program here at Fay. Suzanne holds a master’s degree of science in social work from Columbia University with a concentration in clinical social work. Additionally, she holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University, where she studied under Carol Gilligan, a pioneer of gender studies, particularly in the psychological and moral development of girls.
1987 ALECIA GUEQUIERRE McCRILLIS shares, “I caught up with WILL DOHERTY and his family in
Blair Newberry ’88 with family.
I married Matt Welch in May 2012, and we have an (almost) 11 year-old, Carson Jones, and a 15 month-old, Garrett Welch. We love cycling and spending time with family on the beautiful lakes around Austin. I am the Director of Retail Operations at the LBJ Presidential Library and had the opportunity to attend the Library's Civil Rights Summit this past April, celebrating the 50th anniversary of President Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I met John Lewis, a civil rights marcher, and saw Presidents Carter, Clinton, and Obama speak on civil rights for the occasion. I'm on the board of the LBJ Future Forum and am involved with groups supporting Dell Children's Hospital and KLRU, our local PBS station. I love keeping up with Fay
CLASS NOTES
Helping Undergrads Stay Focused on the Future: Wim Taylor ’89
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fter eight years in higher education, working with undergrads as they looked for that all-important first job out of school, Wim Taylor had a realization. There are experts to help young people as they make the transition from middle school to secondary school, and from secondary school to college…so why not from college to the real world?
Wim is currently the Associate Director of Employer Relations in the Kogod Center for Career Development in the Kogod School of Business at American University, where he connects prospective employers with undergraduates. While he finds the job rewarding, he realized that he wasn’t able to focus as closely as he wanted on the particular needs of students as they embarked on their job searches …and that they weren’t always as prepared as they could be to enter the job market. So in 2013, Wim established Elephant in the Room Consulting, a firm that works one-on-one with undergraduates throughout their college journey. The goal is to help students maximize their time on campus so that they can successfully launch their professional careers.
Given today’s competitive job market, Wim believes that undergraduates need to be thoughtful about the academic choices they make in order to distinguish themselves from their peers. “I work with students to make informed decisions as they select courses, activities, and summer jobs,” he says. “I help them focus on their professional ‘end goals’ and reflect on how each of their experiences will add value in the long run.” Wim’s structured program helps students develop a strategic plan to maximize their undergraduate years. He also walks students through the process of ‘personal branding,’ including writing resumes, conducting mock interviews, and providing readings and reflections that help students define their professional goals. Wim earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and his master’s in counselor education at the University of Virginia. After his years of working in employer relations, Wim has developed a deep understanding of what employers are looking for in their new employees, and his new consulting venture gives him the opportunity to share this information with undergraduates in a meaningful way. As for the name of Wim’s company, Elephant in the Room? “It’s the conversation no one really wants to have with someone navigating the college experience: what are you going to do?” While these topics may feel uncomfortable to millennials and their parents, Wim actively enjoys the process. “I like peeling back the layers of the onion and helping students to understand the issues in a meaningful way. It’s gratifying to help them reach their goals.”
1997
friends on Facebook and look forward to hearing from people and reconnecting in person when possible!”
TARAH BREED writes, "My husband Allen and I were happy to welcome our son, R. Huntington Breed, III ("Hunt") on May 16, 2014. Baby Hunt and I are doing great, and he weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 5 oz. We look forward to introducing Hunt to all our Fay friends!"
1991 TRIS MILLARD writes, “Living in New Orleans, working and expecting our second son. If anyone is ever down in New Orleans, I would love to meet up to catch up.”
1998
1992 AMY COLLINS continues as executive director at Tree Utah.
Tarah Breed ’97, with son Hunt.
FAITH WALLACE-GADSDEN has exciting news: “I recently founded a nonprofit organization called the Archimedes Project, which launches social businesses
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CLASS NOTES
ect in collaboration with local partners and test it for financial viability. We love new ideas and would love to have some Fay alumni support! The website is archimedesproject.com.” EMILY HRUBY shares that she was engaged to Simon Halpern in March. They have relocated to Los Angeles, where she will be working in brand management at Pabst Brewing Company, and he will start up an aerospace company in Pasadena.
2001 Emily Hruby ’98 with fiancé Simon Halpern
in the developing world to empower local entrepreneurs to provide clean water and sanitation to their communities. This past fall, we brought together over 50 professionals from across sectors with the heads of several large water and sanitation organizations in Haiti to design our first enterprise. Our goal is to build an organization to tackle cholera in Haiti (which was introduced to Haiti in 2010 by foreigners and has made 10% of the population sick and killed over 8,500). This June, my team and I traveled to Haiti to implement this proj-
COURTNEY WILSON has this news: “After six years of service as a United States Army Engineer Captain, I'll be resigning my commission. I'm going to travel around the world for a year starting in Europe and then will do a six-month road trip across America. Travel buddies, recommendations or couches to crash on are welcome!”
Keep in Touch!
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2003 TYLER GODOFF shares that after four years in China, he will be returning to the United States to begin his MBA at the Yale School of Management.
2005 CHI YONG PARK and JEONGMO KOO made a special visit to Southborough just to visit Fay! They were surprised to see how much campus had changed but realized there is still much here that is the same. They enjoyed visiting with their old teachers, many of whom are still here.
2006
Courtney Wilson ’01 pictured with a donkey in Afghanistan. She writes, “I did get to ride it, and it was awesome.”
Send your news and photos to Erin Ash Sullivan, Director of Communications, at esullivan@fayschool.org.
Chi Yong Park ’05 and Jeongmo Koo ’05.
2002 POLLEE HRUBY is relocating to Portland, Oregon, from Bangor Maine, where she is taking a role in pediatric orthopedic surgery at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital.
PAIGE CARR writes, “I graduated from Holy Cross in May 2013 with a degree in chemistry. Currently, I am a research intern at UMass Medical School and preparing to apply to medical school.” TOM MORI has graduated from Wittenberg University and is a chemical analyst in Tennessee.
2007 JILLIAN BAUMBACH graduated this spring from Bucknell University with a degree in civil engineering and a minor in theater design technology. She has accepted a position as a water resources engineer with Vanasse Hanwgen Brustlin, Inc. in Watertown, Massachusetts.
CLASS NOTES
Young Alumni Reunion Reconnects Classes of 2006 - 2013 by Julianne Tournas ’09
n June 7, after the Commencement festivities wrapped up and the students departed for the summer, Fay held its first-ever Young Alumni Reunion. Alumni from the classes of 2006 through 2013 returned to campus for this special event to reconnect and catch up with old friends and teachers from their days at Fay. For many alumni, this event was the first time they had been back to campus since graduating from Fay, and the event brought together many friends who hadn’t seen
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each other in years. The reunion was a great time to return to our old stomping grounds and remember all of the memories we created during our days on campus. Fay hopes to bring back and reconnect even more young alumni by making this an annual event. So, for those of you from the graduating classes of 2007 through 2014, we invite you to attend Fay’s second Young Alumni Reunion on June 6, 2015!
Top row, left to right: Royce Light '12, Ito Orobator '11, Jane Chiavelli '11, Pooja Ika '12, Diana Muggeridge '09, Julianne Tournas '09, Annie Papadellis '07, Suren Nannapeneni '10, Christian Papadellis '10, Ben Hart '09. Middle Row: Jeff Richards '11, Chris DeMello '11, Karina Masri '11, Shana Davis '09, Molly Curley '09, Julie Wardwell '09, Miranda Kotidis '10, Rebecca Chernick '11, Beth Pezzoni '10, Jacqui Hart '10, Madeleine Parker '10, Chris Uhl '10, Bruce Chauncey, Josh Pierson. Front row: Dan Blanchard, Billy Claire, Heidi Qua, Deb Smith, Jane McGinty, Nathaniel Smith, Rob Gustavson, Scott LeBrun, Andy Long, Ian Randall '08, Andrew Orobator '08.
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CLASS NOTES
2008 ANDREW KENEALY has finished his junior year at Dartmouth College and just completed a semester abroad in Scotland at the University of Glasgow. He’s a member of Dartmouth’s varsity crew team. ERICA SHAY has been blogging for the Huffington Post! You can find more information at http://www. huffingtonpost.com/erica-shay/.
2018 at Cornell in the fall.” JULIA SMITH will attend Hamilton College as a recruited athlete and will play setter for the women's volleyball team. LILY ZEZZA graduated from Tabor Academy with a Naval Honor Certificate. She is headed to Northeastern University this fall; she will be part of Northeastern's international program and is headed to University College Dublin for her freshman fall semester. Christian Papadellis ’10 after his performance of Rent with Fay teachers Stephen Buck, Katie Long, and Kelly Porter.
again! In addition to performing, I am on the river every afternoon working hard with my crew team, and I am very excited to be attending Colby College next fall!” DIANA KENEALY finished her freshman year at Princeton, where she is a member of the varsity crew team.
2011
Pep Ruckpanich ’10 and Austin Cheng ’10 at the 2014 Men’s College Squash Association National Championship in Boston.
2010 We heard from PEP RUCKPANICH, who reported meeting up with AUSTIN CHENG when they both competed at the 2014 Men’s College Squash Association National Championship in Boston. Pep was competing for the University of Richmond, while Austin was playing for USC. CHRISTIAN PAPADELLIS writes, “I am currently in my last semester at Middlesex School. We just finished our spring production of RENT, where I played Benny, the landlord. I was beyond thrilled to get a surprise visit at our closing show from Mr. Buck, Mrs. Long, Ms. Porter, Ms. Ripton, Ms. Gifford, and Mr. LeBrun. It was so nice to see them all
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BEN CLARK graduated from Lawrence Academy and will attend High Point University in the fall. KAELAN FITZPATRICK will attend Ithaca College’s School of Business, where he received a merit scholarship. He was recruited to play lacrosse for Ithaca's NCAA D3 men's lacrosse and is thrilled to be a member of the "Bombers" team. WILL LYONS placed second in the Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair, held at MIT. After graduating from St. Mark's, he will attend Washington University in St. Louis and focus on biochemistry. YUYA MAEDA writes, “I will be joining the IMG Academy Post Graduate Program in Bradenton, Florida to pursue my dream in baseball. We will be playing many of the competitive college teams in Florida, and I am very excited for the next chapter of my life.” ITO OROBATOR has this news: “I am wrapping up my high school years at St. George’s, where I was also head of the all female a cappella group, the Snapdragons, and I look forward to joining the Class of
See the full list of college destinations for the Class of 2011 on page 50.
2012 AARON McLEAN was named to the All-New England Class C football team. This is a rare honor for a St. Marker, as he is only the second St. Mark’s player recognized with this honor over the last decade. McLean led St. Mark’s in receiving this year, and he led the entire ISL in touchdown receptions with ten, earning All-ISL status. EUGENE AMANKWAH wrote in to let us know that Choate’s Fay alumni are “alive and well. Most notably, JESSICA FAN is the president of Choate's Body Image Project, a club that is helping to redefine body image and its role in society. She's looking forward to making an impact with the club on Choate’s campus.”
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The Art of Nostalgia: A How-To on Living in the Moment
hen it comes down to it, the years characterized by a long awaited loss of baby fat and an influx of obligatory by Gabby Edzie ’10 thoughts surrounding what we want to do with the rest of our lives fall into a state of limbo. Our late teens and early twenties consist of a series of transitions so fast-paced that it may take writing an article about them to truly see them. In fact, the only reminders we have of these transitions are the bouts of nostalgia, the instances where we long for what we had prior to each transition. From high school to college, from semester to semester, from internship to internship (to internship, to internship), we often find ourselves Facebook stalking the past, and perhaps even thinking of it as a "better" time. In this period of reminiscence, how are we supposed to embrace the Hallmark cards and bumper stickers that encourage us to "live in the moment?"
Your grandmother is right when she says you have a lot to look forward to. Be excited for, and do not fear, what lies ahead. At the tender age of 14, I was shipped off to boarding school. Of course, I was homesick. I missed my mom's brownies, and the friends I'd been inviting to birthday parties for years. The beginning of high school was, frankly, brutal. My days were filled with phone calls to my mom, pleading with her to let me return to middle school, texts to my middle school friends, and the consumption of Oreos in the safety of my dorm room. It was as if my first transition to a new environment had erased the feeling of happiness from my memory. Yet, as expected, I grew to love my new friends, and the brownies from the dining hall weren't even that bad. I eventually grew to love my high school to the point where I couldn't imagine how I'd ever loved my previous environment so much. When senior year came and went, I felt like I was leaving behind an entire life. Next came freshman year of college. Though it seems that the differences between a small boarding school and a small liberal arts college must be limited, they are indeed rather vast. The senior spring of one's high school career is such a comfortable time. We reach a whole new realm of maturity, our high school
campus seems to be a second home, our friends know us almost too well, and our only worries seem to be the impending transition to college. Moving from school to school had always felt like leaving a life behind, but leaving behind the most formative years of my life, high school, was a reality that was hard to grasp. This transition left me feeling rather uprooted. I constantly brought up my previous "life" in conversations, as if talking about it would transport me to the period where I truly believed I was, as many graphic T's declare, "living the dream." Though, as I am still in this transitional period, I cannot offer any conclusive insight on this particular time in one's life, I can offer a few guidelines on how to miss things. Here is some insight on how to tame the phenomenon that is nostalgia. 1.THE CYCLE: Keep in mind that you've missed things a thousand times before, and it always becomes easier. It may take weeks, or months, but it always does. Whether it's a place, a person, or your favorite food that you can no longer eat because you just found out you're gluten free, it always gets easier. 2.BE REALISTIC: The most dangerous part of nostalgia is the tendency to romanticize. When you look back, look back on the past as it actually was. Doing so will prevent you from ranking the past as better than the present. 3.LOOK FORWARD: Avoid excessive planning, but when that new movie tells you how enlightening your twenty-something years are, or how incredible your forties are, listen. Your grandmother is right when she says you have a lot to look forward to. Be excited for, and do not fear, what lies ahead. 4.LIVE IN THE MOMENT: Try to embrace how exciting life can be when you truly live in the moment. Respect the Hallmark cards and try new things every day. 5.BALANCE: Try to find a balance between the past and the present. Live in the moment, but never fully let go of your past. Keep in touch with old friends, and remember the events that made you the person you are today. Most importantly, always participate in Instagram's "Throwback Thursday." Gabby Edzie ’10 just finished her freshman year at Amherst College. This article was originally published in the Huffington Post back in March.
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In Memoriam EFREM ZIMBALIST ’31 May 2, 2014 Efrem Zimbalist died on his ranch in Solvang, California, on May 2, 2014 at the age of 95. Born in New York City, his father was a violinist and composer who became the director of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and his mother was the concert soprano Alma Gluck. After attending Fay School, Mr. Zimbalist attended St. Paul’s School and Yale University. In 1941, he enlisted in the Army, earning a Purple Heart after being wounded in the battle of Hürtgen Forest, on the GermanBelgian border. Mr. Zimbalist had a long and rich career as an actor on both coasts. He performed on Broadway in such shows as The Rugged Path and Hedda Gabler, and he performed in a number of movies, including Band of Angels, Wait Until Dark, and Airport 1975. Mr. Zimbalist is perhaps best known for his roles in two television crime series, 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. In addition to his achievements as an actor, Mr. Zimbalist was an accomplished musician, writing an eightpart choral setting of the 150th Psalm, among other works. Mr. Zimbalist is survived by his daughter, Stephanie, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
WATSON KEEP BLAIR ’39 November 26, 2013 Watson Keep Blair died at his home on November 26, 2013, at the age of 87. He was born in Chicago, raised in New York City, and graduated from Fay School, St. Paul’s School, and Yale University. After St. Paul’s School and before his service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he studied naval architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following his graduation from Yale, he joined J. P. Morgan Bank, even-
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tually leading its international lending group. In 1970, he left banking to follow an entrepreneurial interest in St. Louis with National Transaction Networks, which was developing a cash card system that served as the initial concept for cash cards. His first wife, Mary Josephine Cutting McFadden Blair, died in 1991. His second wife, Valerie Hollmann Ford Blair, survives him, as do his children, Watson B. Blair and Wolcott R. Blair, and his stepchildren, Mary McFadden, John H. McFadden, Anthony F. W. Ford, and Ian H. J. Ford.
FREDERICK AMES CUSHING ’47 November 15, 2013 Frederick Ames Cushing, 79, of Newport, Rhode Island, passed away on November 15, 2013. Born April 6, 1934 in New York City, he was the son of the late Howard Gardiner Cushing and Mary Ames Cushing and the grandson of renowned portraitist Howard Gardiner Cushing. After graduating from Harvard University, Fred moved to New York and joined J.P. Morgan Bank in the commercial banking department. Later, he worked at Lehman Brothers in international finance, and he was stationed in their Paris office for eight years. After retiring in the United States, Fred worked in venture capital and also formed a video company with his wife, Caterine Milinaire. They produced videos for museums, tourist offices, and nonprofits. Fred’s favorite occupation in retirement was to paint in oils, and in August, 2011 he exhibited 30 of his paintings at the Isherwood Gallery in Newport. Fred has two children from his first marriage, John Van Gerbig Cushing and Cassandra Beeman Cushing, and one stepdaughter, Serafine Klarwein.
A. BROOKS HARLOW, JR. ’49 April 15, 2014 A. Brooks Harlow, Jr., Fay's fifth Head of School, passed away on April 15, 2014, following a long illness. Please see our remembrance of Brooks on page 40 of this issue.
PETER LEVY ’51 October 18, 2013 Peter Levy passed away on October 18, 2013, in Palm Beach, Florida. He was 77 years old. He was born on May 18, 1936, in New York City to Gus Levy and Janet Wolf Levy. After attending Fay, he graduated from St. Mark’s School in 1955 and earned a bachelor’s degree in science from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1959. Peter began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he started as a floor broker at the New York Stock Exchange and rose to partner. He later founded two very successful funds, Sage Capital in 1994 and Harmony Capital in 2008. He enjoyed tennis, skiing, windsurfing, cooking, music, dancing, movies, great food and folk art. An understated, wise man, he took pleasure in every aspect of life, great and small. He had a huge heart, generous spirit and loved his family and friends dearly. He is survived by his wife, Nadine; his sister, Betty Hess; his five children, Dominique, Dany, Vanessa, Kate, and Gus; his grandchildren, Sebastian and Henry; and his wife's stepchildren, Sharon and Oren.
PRESCOTT LANE ’77 June 2, 2014 Prescott Newitt Lane died suddenly Monday June 2, 2014 at Milford Regional Hospital. He was 51.
Born in Boston, he was the son of Warren C. Lane Jr. and Cynthia Rugg Lane of Worcester. Raised in Worcester, he attended Shepard Knapp School, Fay, Choate-Rosemary Hall, New Hampton School, Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, and the University of Colorado in Boulder. He received his Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law. A member of the Five Islands Yacht Club in Maine, he enjoyed sailing, photography, motorcycling, skiing, and ice skating. He was also a gadget/tech enthusiast. He was a dedicated fan of the Grateful Dead and many other artists. Prescott’s passions were animals, veterans, and democracy. A self-employed attorney, he had been employed for many years as a real estate attorney by Market Street Settlement Group. He was admitted to the bar in both New Hampshire and Maine. Along with his parents, he leaves behind his son Joshua M. Lane of Burlington, Vermont; longtime companion Emily Roberts Wick ’78 and her daughter Sumner “Chappie” Wick ’12, both of Norfolk; a brother Corbin Lane ’73 of Leominster; and many other family members and friends.
PAUL SHEA ’88 April 18, 2014 Paul Terry Shea, 40, of Holliston, died suddenly on April 18, 2014 at the Metrowest Medical Center in Framingham. Born in Boston, he was the son of Lois Zeramby and Paul M. Shea of Holliston. A lifelong Holliston resident, Paul was a 1991 graduate of St. Sebastian's School in Needham and a 1995 graduate of Boston College. He was employed as a mortgage broker. Besides his parents, he leaves behind his twin brother, Peter J. Shea of Holliston and Hopkinton, as well as many aunts, uncles and cousins.
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In Memoriam RAWLEIGH RALLS ’94 December 8, 2013 Rawleigh Hazen Yates Ralls, age 34, died in Minneapolis on December 8, 2013 following a lengthy illness. Rawleigh attended Pulaski Academy in Little Rock as well as Fay School and Brooks School and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is survived by his parents, Barbara Yates and James Freeman, brothers Creighton Ralls and Rawleigh H. Ralls IV, sisters Elizabeth Gwatney and Devon Ralls, stepsister Jennifer Freeman, and stepbrother Michael Freeman.
MICHAEL KENNEDY ’95 March 26, 2014 Michael Ryan Kennedy (BFD Ladder 15) died from injuries sustained in the line of duty fighting a nine-alarm fire in Boston’s Back Bay. He was 33 years old. Michael was born in Boston on October 11, 1980. After attending Fay and graduating from high school, Mike attended Johnson and Wales Culinary Institute. He served honorably for six and one-half years in the U.S. Marines, earning the rank of sergeant, and he was a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Michael was appointed to the Boston Fire Department on November 5, 2007 and worked on Ladder 2 in East Boston before moving to Ladder 15. He was a certified CrossFit trainer, volunteered for the Big Brother program, worked as a fundraiser for the Wounded Warriors and for the Boston Firefighters Burn Foundation, and was a proud member of the American Infidels Veterans Motorcycle Club. Mike was buried with military honors at the Boston Firefighters Memorial Lot in Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain. He leaves his father, Paul Kennedy of Holbrook; mother and stepfather Kathy Crosby-Bell and William Bell; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.
NICHOLAS CHANDLER ’97 February 23, 2014 Nicholas Chandler died unexpectedly on February 23, 2014, in Sacramento, California. He was born July 16, 1982, the eldest son of Kenn Chandler and Laura M. Hiestand. He was a direct descendent of Civil War General George Meade and education reformist Horace Mann. After attending Fay for eighth and ninth grade, Nick graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He attended Colby College for one year and then transferred to Hampshire College, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in history, focusing on contemporary Europe and America. While earning his law degree at American University’s Washington College of
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Law, he helped establish the WCL Poverty Law Society, interned at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and volunteered with Compassion Over Killing, an animal rights law organization. Nick then moved to New York City, where he worked for the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project supervising students and providing legal advice during weekly debt management clinics. He received the 2008 Christopher Slattery Young Professional Award for outstanding legal work. He also was a member of the Pro Bono and Young Lawyers Committees of the Brooklyn Bar Association. Nick earned an LLM in banking law and financial regulation at the London School of Economics. He returned to the U.S. and worked at Aguiar Law Office in Louisville, Kentucky, as a civil litigator. Most recently, he worked at Morgan Stanley in Sacramento as a wealth advisor associate. He will be missed by his mother, Laura M. Hiestand; father, Kenn Chandler; and his two brothers, Benjamin and Samuel Chandler. He is also survived by his father’s partner, Jean Fosillo, and Laura’s partner, Mark Akeley, and his four children. There will be a celebration of his life on August 3 at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.
SUSAN ROOT FEIBLEMAN, P ’72, ’74, ’77 AND FORMER TRUSTEE March 15, 2014 Susan Spear Root Feibleman, 86, died March 15, 2014, at her home, in Sarasota, Florida. She was born July 30, 1927, in Terre Haute, Indiana, the second daughter of Helen and Max Fulton Spear. A native of Terre Haute, she graduated from Wiley High School and attended Indiana State Teachers College. She married Chapman S. Root, and they had six children, whom they raised in the Daytona Beach area. Mrs. Feibleman was very active in civic work. She served on numerous boards, including the Volusia County Historical Commission, Saint James’ Episcopal Day School, the Ormond Beach Historical Society, and the Halifax District Hospital Medical Auxiliary. From 1978 to 1987, she served on Fay’s Board of Trustees, and she was an emeritus trustee from 1987 until her passing. In 1978, the Root Building was named in her family’s honor. Mrs. Feibleman is survived by one daughter, Susan Root Graham; five sons, Chapman Root, William Root, R. Christopher Root ’72, John Root ’74, and J. Preston Root ’77; 14 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
Staff Profile:
Director of Facilities Sheryl Traylor P’14 THE NEXT TIME YOU ADMIRE the pristine classrooms of the Primary School, the lush green of MacAusland Field, or the immaculate mid-winter walkways that criss-cross the Quad, say a silent “thank you” to Fay’s facilities staff and Facilities Director, Sheryl Traylor. Sheryl came to Fay in 2011 as a member of the grounds crew, and by 2013 she was coordinating the team. As the Director of Facilities, she oversees maintenance of Fay’s 66 acres. Her job includes making sure that the playing fields are in top condition; overseeing landscaping from new plantings to leaf control to snow plowing; and planning upgrades and repairs to Fay’s academic buildings, dormitories, and the 47 apartments that house dorm parents, faculty, and staff. As a Fay parent, Sheryl has a special investment in making Fay a wonderful place to be, as she sees first-hand the benefits that the Fay experience can bring to students and their families. Her son, Noah, came to Fay in seventh grade as a day student and graduated this spring. He was the winner of the Edwards Award for Citizenship and the Morris Award for Excellence in Boys’ Athletics. He he will attend Belmont Hill School in the fall. What is a typical day for you? There’s no such thing as a typical day! Some days our team is shoveling the steps after a big snowstorm, while other days we might be setting up tents and chairs for a schoolwide event like Grandparents’ Day or Commencement. We have to work “in the moment”—meeting the needs of the school right now—while also taking care of scheduled upgrades and long-term projects. What do you like most about your job? I love being part of a school, because ultimately it’s about the kids and making sure they have the best possible experience. I’m always meeting with division heads to assess the needs of the program. Sometimes students come to us with ideas for improvements, and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to make changes based on their feedback. Last year, for example, the Lower School students did an analysis of water usage at the
school, and their findings led us to install new water fountains that also include bottle fill stations, so students can fill their own water bottles and reduce waste. What big projects are happening this summer at Fay? We have embarked on a significant upgrade of Harris Theater, which will include air conditioning, new theater flooring, and new seating. We are also renovating the bathrooms in Steward Dormitory, with new floors, walls, shower areas, counters, and vanities. What is it like to be a Fay parent and a Fay staff member? It has been great for me, and it has also been great for Noah. I’ve been so grateful for the experiences that he has had here. I’ve loved our drives back and forth to school together—in my job, I’ve been able to give him his space, but it has also been nice to be part of the same community.
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