FENN Magazine: A Community Reunited (Winter 2022)

Winter 2022

A Community Reunited Emerging from the pandemic

F R O M T HE H E A D O F S C H OO L

Dear Fenn Community, In our last FENN magazine, we chronicled our journey responding to the onset of COVID-19 and finding a path to open school in-person for the 2020-2021 school year with protocols in place that would help to ensure our community’s health and safety, while also maintaining some semblance of normalcy.

With this issue, we celebrate the progress that we have been able to make to move ever closer to the full Fenn experience that we all cherish and desire for our students. Our COVID Advisory Team and outside health experts continue to monitor the COVID landscape closely and meet regularly to discuss and develop thoughtful plans to gradually loosen COVID restrictions and move towards an even more open campus. In recent weeks, the winds of positive change have been unmistakable.

We begin this issue by celebrating four of our long-tenured employees who departed our community for retirement and new adventures last June. Fenn has always been revered for the treasured relationships that form between our faculty and staff and the students they serve. The four women whom we honor in this issue are lasting examples of dedication to school and community and passion for their callings. Their tributes merely scratch the surface of their tremendous contributions to Fenn and the lasting impacts they have left with us.

We also highlight the milestone moment that was Graduation 2021. It marked the very first on-campus event that brought together community members who had been kept distant from one another since the early days of the pandemic. There was understandable joy in togetherness during Graduation Week.

Enjoy, as well, myriad other highlights of the fall and early winter of our current school year. It was particularly wonderful to welcome alumni and alumni families back to campus for our in-person Reunion and Homecoming Weekend in October after virtual programming last year. The joy of everyone who gathered for this special weekend is so very evident in the photos that bring these events to life in the coming pages of the magazine.

Thankfully, where we began this school year is not where we will end it. The spring shows such great promise, and we will look forward to showcasing that in the next issue of the FENN magazine. Until then, please enjoy this Winter 2022 edition that honors the resilient community that I am proud to lead.

Sincerely,

Derek R. Boonisar Head of School

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TRANSITIONS AND TRIBUTES 4 8 12 16 EDITOR AND WRITER Jennifer Everett

Lynn Duval: 35 Years Pat Hall: 32 Years Elizabeth Cobblah: 28 Years Elise Mott: 26 Years

GRADUATION

CONTRIBUTORS Dominic Dipersia Laurie O’Neill

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SPORTS WRITER Brenda Dupont

AROUND CAMPUS

MAGAZINE DESIGN Dan Beard PHOTOGRAPHY Lisa Aciukewicz Alycia Braga Dominic Dipersia Jennifer Everett Jordan Hill Tony Santos Joshua Touster Fenn faculty and staff COVER PHOTO Jennifer Everett EDITORIAL BOARD Derek Boonisar Anne Ames Boudreau Nat Carr ’97 Dominic Dipersia Jennifer Everett Jill Miller Alan O’Neill ’98

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A Turning Point: Graduation 2021

Around Campus Spotlight Team Sports Return: Fall 2021 Highlights Faculty, Staff, and Trustee Introductions and Transitions

ALUMNI NEWS 60 68 72 74 88

Reunion and Homecoming Weekend 2021 Mark W. Biscoe H’95 Memorial Celebration Distinguished Alumnus Award: Alex Lynch ’66 Class Notes – Profiling Paul Bellantoni ’82 In Memoriam

FENN is published for alumni, parents, and friends of the School. Comments are welcomed and can be sent to the FENN Editorial Board at The Fenn School, 516 Monument Street, Concord, MA 01742, or shared directly with the editor at jeverett@fenn.org or 978-318-3583.

TRA NS ITION S A N D TRIBUTE S

Transitions and Tributes The past year has been one of significant transition. The continued presence and daily challenges of COVID-19 have required the Fenn community of faculty, staff, and trustees to remain flexible and creative in how we safely deliver a Fenn School experience to students and families and maintain connections with our broader community of alumni, alumni parents, former faculty and staff, and friends. Amidst it all, Fenn has managed to flourish, and our faculty, staff, and Fenn families have been instrumental in helping to achieve that. Across the following 14 pages, we celebrate four long-tenured faculty and staff members who recently navigated their own transitions to retirement and a new chapter in a teaching journey during this time of great challenge and change. Join us in thanking them for their decades of incredible service to Fenn as our community did in this farewell parade last June!

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LYNN D U VAL

35 YEARS

Lynn Duval

“thespian at heart” and “caring steward” for Middle School boys “S HE ’ S RE A L L Y , RE A L L Y , RE A L L Y N I C E ”

said one of Lynn Duval’s former

students, his words enthusiastically echoed by his classmates. Is there higher

BY LAURIE O’NEILL

praise for a teacher of sometimes challenging adolescent boys?

Lynn, who retired last June after thirty-five years at Fenn, is equally as fond of the hundreds of students who passed through her English and social studies classes. “The boys made my days at Fenn so much fun,” Lynn declared.

“They say and do the darnedest things.”

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“That rocky, highly forgettable, barely-able-to-tolerate-it time between boyhood and young manhood needs a loving, caring steward, and Lynn was always there.” – Head of School Derek Boonisar Lynn was “perfectly situated in the sixth and seventh grade range because her approach is so human,” said Head of School Derek Boonisar. “That rocky, highly forgettable, barely-able-to-tolerate-it time between boyhood and young manhood needs a loving, caring steward, and Lynn was always there.”

Her irrepressible spirit and sense of humor equipped Lynn well to instruct adolescent boys when she joined the community in 1986. After interviews with headmaster at the time Walter Birge, Lynn was offered a part-time position teaching sixth grade English. She was “so pleased,” she said, because she had taught sixth grade English and social studies in Cincinnati for thirteen years.

“This position was right up my alley.”

Over the years, Lynn had been an eighth-grade English teacher, advisor, and sixth grade drama instructor, sixth and seventh grade Integrated Studies teacher, and coordinator of the Peer Advocate program. Lynn also served as the faculty coordinator of the assembly program. In her early years at the School, she was its publicity person and was “proud to score the first article about Fenn to be run in the Boston Globe.”

Lynn was known by her colleagues as “consistently prepared and equipped with a plan” and “able to get her students to understand the importance of being organized,” said Jim Carter ’54, who taught the same sixth grade social studies course.

“Her commitment to her students was very strong,” says Tricia McCarthy, head of the Middle School for many years. Lynn was “a more ‘planful’ teacher than I could ever hope to be,” she added.

As an advisor, “Lynn was a lioness,” Tricia said, “holding the boys to standards but simultaneously going to bat for them every time.”

Lynn possesses a keen sense of humor and fun, which was part of the reason her students enjoyed being in her classes and advisor groups. Elise Mott, a former Middle School colleague, described Lynn as “a lot of fun to work

with.” For years, Elise taught across the hall from Lynn, and the latter was “my go-to for a quick laugh, a question, or when I needed a little life advice.”

Lynn’s passion for theatre and talents as an actor and singer are well known. “She is truly alive on stage, and she modeled vivacious energy to the boys,” said Elise. “Lynn is a thespian at heart,” declared Kirsten Gould, retired chair of the arts department,

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LYNN D U VAL

sharing that Lynn was an early addition to the drama program shortly after arriving at Fenn. The curriculum was in its infancy, and Lynn suggested trying to stage Shakespearean scenes with sixth graders using adapted scripts.

The approach would replace a rather “unproductive” curriculum that had previously been in place.

Characteristically quick witted, Lynn referred to these scenes as “skitsophrenia,” and her proposal was quickly adopted.

According to Kirsten, it evolved into “quite polished, off-script, and beautifully costumed performances,” which lived on and are now directed by Rob Morrison.

Fenn audiences have enjoyed Lynn’s performances in musicals, faculty skits, and in the annual holiday production, which utilizes campus and current events to recreate, albeit roughly, Ebenezer Scrooge’s Christmas Eve journey. Lynn

played Auntie Scrounge, a female Scrooge, in 1995, and reprised that role in a Zoom production in 2020.

Derek said that he admires “how Lynn asked the tough questions in the spirit of helping us be best prepared.

She showed the courage to let you know where she stood on issues and made sure her voice and all voices were heard.

Perhaps it’s her comfort on the stage, but it mattered and made a difference.”

Dr. Charlie Streff, former consulting clinical psychologist at Fenn, worked with Lynn on the Peer Advocacy program, originally known as Peer Mediation. He says she was one of the first faculty members to sign up to take peer advocate training so she could help instruct boys in conflict resolution.

“Lynn became the driving force for the program when I retired and was eventually able

to make its principles part of the Student Life Program curriculum,” Charlie says. Lynn demonstrated “sensitivity and insight” when she dealt with students who were exhibiting behavioral or emotional stress, he adds. “She was instrumental in helping them turn things around.”

Her acting ability made Lynn particularly well-suited to teaching and advising and to serving as a peer advocate, Charlie added. As she modeled conflict and resolution, “the boys were sometimes speechless watching her.”

Charlie got to know Lynn even better when both were involved with The Concord Players, where she has been an actor, producer, publicity person, and for a term the group’s president. Charlie and Lynn acted in Oklahoma, Lynn as the rancher’s wife “and I as the town preacher man,” he shared. Later they auditioned together for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, singing and acting the innkeeper and his wife’s number from Les Miserables.

“Lynn got a major role,” Charlie says. “I got a ‘Thank you for coming tonight’.”

“I wanted the boys to trust in me, trust in themselves, and trust they will be prepared for the next step in their learning.” – Lynn Duval 6

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“She loved teaching boys, and they loved her.”

As a nod to her longevity at Fenn and her love of theatre, Lynn was greeted by her fiefdom, or rather, colleagues, at the June Balloon Dinner held for departing faculty and staff members with a cry of “Hear Ye, Hear Ye. All rise for Queen Duval. Her court is now in session!”

Presenters thanked her for her “leadership, humor, grace, and dedication to your court.” Lynn, who played Queen Elizabeth in the 2014 Fenn holiday concert, was presented with a crown “for the matriarchal care and support of your minions,” a “royal scepter” for “ruling with an iron fist all the whilst with a tender heart,” and a “royal purple cape, to be counted among the many costumes you have draped yourself in through your many performances, musical stylings, and artistic Shakespearian direction. You have left us inspired, uplifted, and entertained.”

Among her favorite memories of her years at Fenn, Lynn counts those spent teaching Integrated Studies with Amy Stiga. “We shared some great laughs, especially when we demonstrated how to execute the Explorer Project presentation in front of the boys,” she said.

Lynn also treasured her experiences as an advisor. “Not only did I work with wonderful boys, but also with the caring adults in their lives who relied on my advice,” she said, adding that Fenn parents “were an integral support that allowed me to do my job.”

Having planned to “kick back” after retirement, Lynn is busy pursuing other interests, including working with senior citizens who are in assisted living.

She volunteers at Camellia Gardens in Maynard Crossing, where her first job

– Former faculty colleague Elise Mott

was to call Bingo, a task for which she employed her “teacher-voice projection,” she said.

Ever the theatre aficionado, she worked with seniors in a Reading Theater project during December 2021, for which the actors read and performed “Funny Letters to Santa.”

Spending more time with her son, Jason, and with her long-time friend, Doug, were among Lynn’s retirement priorities. Mostly, she says, “I’ve been learning to enjoy not being on a regimented schedule, which has been liberating.”

In a faculty spotlight article several years ago, Lynn expressed her ardent wish as a teacher: “I want the boys to trust in me, trust in themselves, and trust they will be prepared for the next step in their learning.”

Fenn will remember Lynn for her enthusiasm, sense of humor and fun, and dedication to her students. Said Elise: “She loved teaching boys, and they loved her.”

Laurie O’Neill is a freelance writer and former teacher and writer/editor at Fenn. She lives in Concord.

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PAT HAL L

32 YEARS

Pat Hall

“Fenn’s eyes and ears,” served three headmasters “IT’S D I F F I C UL T , ” S A Y S N A T C A RR ’ 9 7 ,

“to think of anyone at Fenn who more

clearly and consistently lived out our motto of Sua Sponte and our core values of honesty, respect, empathy, and courage.”

Nat, head of the Lower School and assistant head for faculty and

BY LAURIE O’NEILL

professional development, calls his former colleague, Pat Hall, who retired in June after thirty-two years of serving as executive assistant to the head of school, “simply amazing,” and adds these adjectives to describe her: “kind, unselfish, patient, and humble.”

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Pat’s colleagues echo Nat’s sentiments. She “was Fenn’s eyes and ears,” says Head of School Derek Boonisar.

“There wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard, dealt with, or managed, whether it was life-changing information for better or worse, or anything in between.” Her position “was a hard one to be in,” he adds, “because the level of discretion has to be so high. Pat handled it all with a grace that generated everlasting trust and admiration.”

Jim Carter ’54 calls Pat “one of the unsung heroes of the School over the past several decades.” She has “done so much for Fenn over the years, making sure it ran smoothly.”

Pat served three headmasters after joining the School in 1989, having answered a newspaper ad. It was the first job she had ever gotten this way. Pat worked first with Walter Birge, then Jerry Ward for his full twenty-five-year tenure, and then Derek from his appointment in 2018 until her retirement.

When Walter was checking Pat’s references, he talked to her former employer, who, he says, “delivered a long encomium about her.” When Walter remarked that “there must be something about this person that’s not perfect,” the employer paused before replying, “Well…she works too hard.”

Pat became “a benevolent lion at my gate who could read situations perfectly,” Walter says. “If someone needed to get to me, she got them here, but most often she managed the situation herself with grace and skill.”

As important as being his treasured advisor who sometimes spared Fenn

“from some idiotic idea of mine,” Pat became Walter’s “best friend,” he says. “And I will always value that.”

Jerry remains “deeply grateful for Pat’s unfailing loyalty, dedication, empathy, and superb work ethic,” he says. “I never could have done my work in the ways I sought without her at my side and in many cases showing me the way forward through thick and thin.”

Pat’s influence on the School “was immense,” Jerry adds. “So much of the life and vitality of Fenn was touched, guided, and in some cases shaped by Pat Hall.”

Pat “made what she did look so smooth and effortless.

She managed a tidal wave of information, issues, and questions that tumbled her way every day,” notes Derek. “We all need people in our professional lives who are dependable and active listeners, people who make you feel better just by their presence first, and then by their wisdom and reassurance second. Pat is one of those people.”

Often Derek would walk over to work, he says, “thoughts turning in my head, saying to myself: ‘I just need to sit with Pat for ten minutes and everything will become clearer.’ Few people exude that type of support that is sometimes under high-stress conditions.”

In her role as executive assistant, Pat organized the daily schedule, Prize Day, and Graduation, interacted with Fenn faculty and staff, parents, students, alumni, and others on behalf of the head of school, and took minutes at Board of Trustees meetings. She became a veritable repository of information about the School and how it works.

Responsible for maintaining a professional and welcoming environment in the head’s office while overseeing the office staff, Pat exceeded those expectations, managing the staff with respect and understanding, embodying diplomacy,

“We all need people in our professional lives who are dependable and active listeners, people who make you feel better just by their presence first, and then by their wisdom and reassurance second.

Pat is one of those people.” – Head of School Derek Boonisar winter

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PAT HAL L

tact, and prudence.

Lauri Wishner, manager of the Secondary School Counseling office, calls Pat “unflappable,” describes her as “dedicated and fiercely loyal to Fenn,” and says, “She is a consummate professional who treated everyone with respect.”

That fierce loyalty was illustrated in 2020, when Pat had been contemplating retirement. But Fenn had been dealing with COVID for a while, and she asked Derek for “permission to stay another year,” he says. “Let me think about that,” Derek replied, tongue in cheek, struck

by Pat’s generous gesture. “Yeah, I think that can be arranged.”

Pat’s high level of organization, attention to detail, and regard for punctuality was put to the test when she would find the head’s office empty at a time that he was needed there. “It was sometimes humorous to see Pat rushing around campus, trying to track down Walter, or Jerry, and now perhaps Derek, to get him to an important meeting on time,” says Kirsten Gould, retired arts department chair and drama teacher.

“She was impressively calm under the most stressful circumstances.”

Her expertise, experience, and “common sense” made Pat an invaluable partner in the work of the Fenn Board of Trustees, says former chair Jim Kitendaugh P’97 ’05. “She was a great listener and a superb collaborator, willing to consider my suggestions and perhaps more important, serving as a gentle but firm guide whenever I would raise an idea that was impractical or inadvisable.

My trust in her judgment and commitment was absolute.”

Former board chair Mary-Wren vanderWilden calls Pat “a magician at organizing all of the details of making

a school and a board run in a timely manner, with a calmness that is Zen-like.

She made me look good all of the time and then stood back and let me take the credit.” Pat, she adds, “is a class act, possessing everything I prize in someone: integrity, modesty, kindness, and a terrific sense of humor.”

Yet another past board chair, Kevin Parke, says that “Every organization has one person who is on top of everything.

At Fenn that has been Pat Hall,” who, he adds, “combined toughness with humility. She organized so much for the Fenn community, and everything was flawlessly executed.”

As well as being remarkably proficient in her work, Pat was a wise and empathetic listener and counselor for her many friends on the faculty and staff. A constant stream of them made their way to her office, “some who needed help and others who just wanted to stop by and plop down in that burgundy-colored chair next to the mini fridge,” says Derek.

Among those frequent visitors was faculty member and former Middle School Head Tricia McCarthy. “Everyone respected Pat. Some might have considered her to be ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed’,” Tricia says. “We all joked about her being the one who actually kept the school running, but it bears saying that every good joke contains a kernel of truth.”

Marilyn Schmalenberger was working in the front office when Pat arrived at Fenn. “She quickly grew to be the pillar that supported all of the other offices,” says Marilyn. “She got along with everyone—teachers, parents, students, and co-workers, gaining the respect and trust of all of us at Fenn.”

“So much of the life and vitality of Fenn was touched, guided, and in some cases shaped by Pat Hall.” – Headmaster Emeritus, Jerry Ward 10

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Pat would “give up weekends and vacation time without hesitation” if she were needed at the School, says Marilyn.

“She was a key organizer of events that at first looked to be impossible for Fenn to hold, such as large memorial services, and was able, with sensitivity and support, to accommodate the wishes of the family and the crowds that attended.”

Pat is known to shy away from the limelight and would have preferred playing a behind the scenes role unless it was necessary for her to be in front of an audience, as it was at graduation, when she aided the Head of School. Marilyn once pushed Pat onto the stage for an event and paid the consequences.

“She has never forgiven me for talking her into volunteering to help out at the annual Parents Association auction fundraiser and dinner during her first year at Fenn,” Marilyn recalls. “When she found out that our role was to pose as ‘Vanna Whites,’ complete with tiaras, curly blond wigs, and elbow-length white gloves so we could display the auction items to the crowd, it was the first time I got ‘The Look’ from Pat. Be thankful if you never received ‘The Look’.”

Beneath Pat’s professional demeanor are a keen sense of humor and a love of having fun. During Walter’s administration at Fenn, she and Marilyn would lie in wait by the window in the latter’s second floor office in W.W. Fenn with loaded water pistols “and blast any unsuspecting employee trying to enter the building during sweltering summer days,” Marilyn says. “She made coming to Fenn every day a joy.”

As of last fall Pat was coming into Fenn about once a month to work with her successor, Erika Vardaro, which illustrates that many former Fenn folks are still connected to the School in some way. She has been giving more time to two groups about which she is passionate: FastFriends Greyhound Adoption and Greyhound Friends, Inc., small non-profits that are dedicated to saving

racetrack greyhounds, placing them in responsible, loving homes, and educating the public about the breed. Her two beloved greyhounds, Lucas and Sox, are thrilled to have her around more.

Seeing friends more often has been a joy for Pat, as has been spending time with her significant other of five years, Ed, doing more reading, gardening, and traveling, such as to greyhound owner gatherings in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and simply sitting on the beach of her pondside home.

That Pat has left her mark on Fenn is undeniable. She “has been in so many ways, seen and unseen, at the center of Fenn, working tirelessly to serve the School,” says Jerry.

Jim Kitendaugh heartily agrees: “It is not an exaggeration to say that Pat is loved by everyone at Fenn. When people talk about the legacy of an institution, it would not be an exaggeration, either, to say that she is just such a central figure in the history of The Fenn School.”

Laurie O’Neill is a freelance writer and former teacher and writer/editor at Fenn.

She lives in Concord.

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E L IZABE T H C O B B LA H

28 YEARS

Elizabeth Cobblah arts teacher, artist, and advocate for equity and justice “WH E N E V E R A C O M M UN I T Y M E M B E R D E P A RT S ,

there is a bit of history that

goes with the person,” reflects Mike Salvatore, arts department chair and colleague of Elizabeth Cobblah, who arrived on the Fenn campus in 1985

BY LAURIE O’NEILL

with her husband, Tete, and retired last June after twenty-eight years on the Fenn faculty.

Mike says that “a bit of history” is a “huge understatement” in Elizabeth’s case and notes her many roles at Fenn.

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“Her gift of bringing students who lacked confidence in their abilities out of their shells, getting them to believe in themselves… was magical.” – Head of School Derek Boonisar There is Elizabeth the parent, mother of Anoff ’01 and Kwame ’03, both grown and in their own careers as educators. There is Elizabeth the lunch lady, who in her early years on campus, with a small group of Fenn moms, worked in the kitchen. According to Mike, Elizabeth convinced Chef Glee to expand the salad bar and introduce to it such “exotic” and healthy fare as avocados.

There is Elizabeth the librarian, who served for several years as an assistant, helping Fenn boys in the School’s small lending library at the time to find what they needed.

With gentle encouragement, Elizabeth the art teacher “brought out the best and unleashed the creativity in scores of Fenn students,” notes Head of School Derek Boonisar. “Her gift of bringing students who lacked confidence in their abilities out of their shells, getting them to believe in themselves…was magical.”

Elizabeth the artist and published illustrator created the art for The Predator, a collection of short stories about the reflections of the life of an elderly Pennsylvania widow that was written by her grandmother, Linda Grace Hoyer Updike.

Last, there is Elizabeth the advocate for justice and inclusion. With Tete, whom she met while both were studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, she worked tirelessly at Fenn and beyond to promote equality, human rights, and peace.

Derek says Elizabeth’s decades-long commitment to Fenn’s diversity and equity efforts was not only as partner to Tete, retired director of diversity at the

School, “but in her own right.” This, he adds, is one of Elizabeth’s significant contributions to the School. “Her passion for the work and the remarkable ability to both affirm our progress and stimulate future reflection and growth has been hugely valuable.”

Elizabeth is on the team of the Witness Tree Institute, a non-profit Tete founded. The Institute, which some Fenn faculty members have attended, offers multidisciplinary summer learning experiences in Ghana for Ghanaian and American educators.

Her summer 2021 Witness Tree trip was “fantastic,” says Elizabeth. It involved two weeks of visiting places of cultural, historic, educational, ecological, and artistic interest with a group of American and Ghanaian teachers. Elizabeth considers Ghana to be her second home, and in 1992 she volunteered to teach literature there for a year. Elizabeth and Tete continue to support students at the Akropong School for the Blind there, something

they did with Fenn students.

The words “humble” and “empathetic” pepper her colleagues’ descriptions of Elizabeth. “She is a wonderfully kind, thoughtful, and gentle person,” says Jim Carter ’54. “She always saw potential in her students, even when a boy was not showing much enthusiasm or effort.”

It is no surprise that Elizabeth loves books and is a talented writer; she is the daughter of John Updike. But she is characteristically unassuming when it comes to her fascinating parentage.

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Born in England while her parents were studying art at Oxford, Elizabeth later appeared in many of her father’s works, including the Rabbit series. She is the subject of his “March: A Birthday Poem,” which begins this way: My child as yet unborn, the doctors nod; Agreeing that your first month shall be March, A time of year I know by heart and like To talk about—I, too, was born in March.

Updike goes on to describe all the associations with the month, from its astrological signs to its historical associations with Caesar’s fall and Beethoven’s death to its melting snow that sits in “dry crusts that huddle by the barn.” The poem ends with these lines: Still, child, it is far from a bad month.

For all its weight of compromise and hope.

As modest as a monk, March shall be there When on that day without a yesterday You, red and blind and blank, gulp the air.

The word “modest” proved to be prescient. Among the experiences Elizabeth says she will miss most about her Fenn life is “witnessing [my students’] growth and development.” Her students’ achievements were never about their teacher, however; she stood out of the limelight, quietly proud of what the boys accomplished.

Tricia McCarthy, head of the Middle School for many years, says that Elizabeth “released talents and expressiveness in boys that they may not have

known they had. “Her sense of humor and her patience,” Tricia adds, “worked so well with Middle School boys and their often-anxious parents.” Tricia has experienced first-hand the power of Elizabeth’s serene temperament. “I’m always calmer in her presence,” she says.

Tony Santos, a teacher in the arts department, has known Elizabeth for thirty-seven years. He says Elizabeth served as “a beacon of sensibility and good judgment” at Fenn and that her “dedication to her students’ education, wellbeing, and personal growth,” was inspiring. “On a personal level,” he adds, “she has been one of the most sincere and genuine colleagues I have ever worked with.”

Ceramics teacher Carolyn Dittes reflects on the dozen-plus years she worked with Elizabeth by saying that the latter was “the most wonderful, amazing, sensitive, collaborative, fun, friendly, real, patient, respectful, attuned, terrific colleague I could ever have hoped for.

Elizabeth created the best working situation I have ever had in my life.”

When the Cobblahs joined Fenn, they lived in a tiny apartment on campus, in a building that used to be the infirmary. With a group of other faculty members who took care of locking up the buildings at night, they formed a little community, sharing dinners, picnics, and life events. Marilyn Schmalenberger recalls Elizabeth as a young mother watching Tete coach soccer, “with Anoff at her side and Kwame, wrapped in a colorful knotted Ghanaian cloth, tucked snugly on her back.”

“[She was] the most wonderful, amazing, sensitive, collaborative, fun, friendly, real, patient, respectful, attuned, terrific colleague I could ever have hoped for. Elizabeth created the best working situation I have ever had in my life.” – Ceramics teacher Carolyn Dittes 14

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“The halls with moving bodies, student energy, amazing lunches, a day off because of extreme cold, not snow, the lunch bell, the squeaky wooden chairs in Robb Hall, the ceramics studio, and the little square window, now blocked high up in the stairwell coming down from Mulvany.” – Elizabeth Cobblah on the Fenn she will remember Elizabeth, Marilyn says, is “thoughtful, kind, empathetic, creative, talented, and perceptive…and someone who never turns away a friend or colleague in need.”

The Cobblahs taught Marilyn and her husband, Jon, how to play badminton in the Old Gym, and “we had no idea how intense this game, which we knew only as a backyard lawn sport at picnics, could be,” she says. But Tete and Elizabeth “always played to our level so we didn’t get discouraged.”

In an interview for a faculty spotlight series several years ago, Elizabeth said that it is “the caring community” that drew her to Fenn. When asked about her goals, she replied: “I hope the boys in my classes feel nurtured and empowered to create and to respond to art in their worlds.”

Unsurprisingly, Elizabeth the artist paints a picture in words of the Fenn she will remember: “The halls with moving bodies, student energy, amazing lunches, a day off because of extreme cold, not snow, the lunch bell, the squeaky wooden chairs in Robb Hall, the ceramics studio, and the little square window, now blocked high up in the stairwell coming down from Mulvany.”

Since she retired, Elizabeth has dedicated more time to racial justice and climate issues. She is actively involved in organizations including Showing Up For Racial Justice, the NAACP, the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry, and the United Native American Cultural Center, and with Third Act, environmentalist Bill McKibben’s climate change campaign.

She also has joined the Maynard Tree Corps, which oversees the planting and care of trees in public spaces.

Elizabeth has studio space in Maynard and has been drawing every day in a blank book that goes “everywhere” with her. She is especially interested in capturing natural forms such as seedpods and seeds.

Elizabeth has said that “fresh air, the natural world, and family and friends” are “essential sustainers” for her; they are among her priorities in retirement, as is spending more time with Anoff’s two sons, ages three and five, who live in Maine. “I can’t get enough of being a grandmother,” she says.

Mostly, Elizabeth is enjoying having no set routine. “Every day is different,” she says, “and open to my own choreography!”

Laurie O’Neill is a freelance writer and former teacher and writer/editor at Fenn.

She lives in Concord.

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E L IS E M OT T

26 YEARS

Elise Mott

Social studies teacher and service learning coordinator moves on after 26 years at Fenn N OT E V E RY O N E W H O L E A V E S F E N N

is serenaded by a colleague, in this case

to the tune of “Sweet Caroline:” “Ev-er-y day you brought us warmth and sunshine…how do we cope when missing you?”

BY LAURIE O’NEILL

That’s what happened, though, when Elise Mott, who had been on the faculty for twenty-six years, was honored along with other departing community members at the traditional Balloon Dinner in June.

The singer was Dave Duane, and his tribute was one of many offered to Elise, who embarked on a new challenge last fall, joining the faculty of the fledgling New England Innovation Academy (NEIA) in Marlborough, MA. NEIA offers a custom curriculum informed by research at MIT’s Integrated Design and Management program and is built around the International Baccalaureate curric-

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ulum. Elise is teaching humanities and directing the service learning program.

Elise taught every grade of social studies at Fenn and served as co-head of the academic program for a year with colleague Tricia McCarthy. She served as chair of the social studies department, advisor to seventh and eighth graders, and director of the service learning program, and coached tennis, cross-country, and track and field.

Elise “puts her whole heart into teaching, says Tricia. “She is the consummate educator, always looking for ways to move her students forward.”

“Whether [Elise] was integrating the principles of ethical leadership, organizing a Model UN conference, or leading a service learning event outside of school, her teaching pushed her students to investigate their moral universe and to work on behalf of social justice.” – Faculty member Matt Ward ’00 After teaching at the Lawrenceville School, Elise moved to the Boston area to be married and saw an ad in the Boston Globe seeking a part-time humanities teacher for a combined social studies and English program at Fenn. She was hired in 1995 and moved to a full-time position the following year.

Matt Ward ’00 says that Elise “encouraged me to strive for more” and calls her “one of the most dedicated educators I’ve ever worked with.” He adds that “Whether she was integrating the principles of ethical leadership, organizing a Model UN conference, or leading a service learning event outside of school, her teaching pushed her students to investigate their moral universe and to work on behalf of social justice.”

The opportunity to mentor teachers such as Matt, whom Elise taught when he was an eighth grader, “has been one of my most rewarding experiences at Fenn,” she says.

Elise was Rob Morrison’s mentor as well, leading him “through the challenging curriculum of seventh grade Integrated Studies…with patience and professionalism,” he says. “She was a crucial sounding board with whom I could share my successes and failures my first couple of years at Fenn.”

When Jim Carter ’54 moved from being director of admissions to serving as a full-time faculty member, he says Elise “was very helpful in getting me to be a better teacher. I could be somewhat stubborn about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it, but she gave me a number of very good suggestions which I came to appreciate a good deal.”

Elise has a keen interest in multicultural education, says Tete Cobblah, retired director of diversity at Fenn. “Long before we began to diversify the curriculum, [she] was an ardent proponent of the idea that telling a story from a single perspective deprived the listener of the depth and power of the complete story.”

While a member of the Diversity Committee at Fenn, Elise traveled to Ghana with Tete and Elizabeth Cobblah for the pilot program of the Witness Tree Institute, a non-profit organization that Tete founded. The Institute engages educators in multidisciplinary learning experiences through exposure to Ghanaian history and culture. The experience, she says, was unforgettable.

Elise’s ability to “say what is honest and difficult to say” is one of her most admirable abilities, says Elizabeth. “She speaks truth to colleagues and to power with compassion and level-headedness” and is “insightful, direct, and imbued with understated passion.”

As appreciative of her Fenn experience as her colleagues are of her, Elise recalls “being welcomed and made to feel a part of the community on day one. The friendliness and sense of collaboration kept me coming back year after year.”

One of her favorite Fenn experiences is the time Walter Birge invited a group of teachers to his home in Nantucket to work on curriculum.

“It was an awesome two days of brainstorming,” Elise recalls. Other cherished memories include having been mentored

by Lorraine Ward, “a strong feminist who helped guide me during my years at Fenn.”

Since “adventure has always played a theme in my life,” her move to a brandnew school “follows that theme,” Elise says. “I had been thinking a lot about my second act, and this was a unique opportunity to take the leap.” She and her husband, Hugh Gaasch, have a son, Henry, an eighth grader at Fenn, and an older daughter, Leila.

Elise says she will miss the sense of community at Fenn. “I made lifelong friends,” some of whom “have watched me grow from a young woman to a fullfledged middle-aged Gen-Xer,” she says.

“They have been a network of support that won’t be replicated anywhere else.”

Laurie O’Neill is a freelance writer and former teacher and writer/editor at Fenn.

She lives in Concord.

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A Turning Point A close and nurturing community is at the heart of Fenn, and the School’s evolution back to the full-scale Fenn experience that preceded the onset of COVID-19 continues in earnest. Graduation week festivities last June marked the first time that Fenn faculty, staff, and students were able to assemble as one community and that Fenn families were invited to return to campus since the start of the pandemic. On the following pages, enjoy the sights and scenes of this turning-point moment that saw graduation move from its customary New Gym location to a sprawling event tent on a Fenn athletic field, signaling a very welcome celebration. It was heartening to see Fenn boys linked arm-in-arm in this snapshot in time after many months distant from one another.

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Graduation Festivities Return to Monument Street A TOWERING EVENT TENT ROSE UP

on the athletic fields bordering Monument Street on Monday,

June 7, as a sure sign that the 2021 graduation festivities were returning to campus after virtual celebrations imposed by COVID last year.

A June 8th Prize Day celebration ushered in the end-of-school graduation programming, marking the first time that all students, faculty, and staff had assembled together since COVID halted in-person teaching and learning in March of 2020. Head of School Derek Boonisar acknowledged the milestone at the start of the program.

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“This was a year like no other,” he shared, “and no one needs a reminder of the challenges, disruptions, and frustrations that it presented. It tested the resolve of us as individuals and as a school community, and I am proud to say that we passed the test with flying colors. Your collective optimism has been an inspiration and is undeniable proof of the strength of this community.”

It was an apt moment of reflection before the program transitioned to recognizing students across divisions for their individual accomplishments. (See Awards and Prizes on page 28.)

The Sam brothers: Neeron ’10, Odom ’13, Piseth ’15, and Panha ’21

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Two Graduation Ceremonies Help to Ensure Community Safety On Wednesday, June 9, and Friday, June 11, 67 eighth and ninth grade Fenn students joined the ranks of Fenn’s 4,200+ alumni in two separate graduation ceremonies that enabled attendance by socially-distanced clusters of graduate families. While attendance was capped, and graduates and their guests were required to follow COVID protocols to help ensure a safe gathering, a familiar air of celebration, pomp and circumstance, and Blue-and-Gold pride marked the 92nd commencement exercises much like generations before them.

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The bell atop Ward Hall signaled the start of each of the graduation day processionals, which did not follow their customary routes in recent decades from Ward Hall, where graduates gathered, to the New Gym for the ceremony. This year, graduates processed behind Derek Boonisar from Ward Hall, across Carr Road, and on to the cavernous tent where families, faculty, and staff awaited them safely outdoors.

Reflections from Derek Boonisar on the unique contributions and promising futures of each graduate were a highlight before students received their diplomas, as were the student prizes, musical offerings from faculty and staff, and farewell

remarks from student leaders.

Timmy Smith, the chosen speaker for the eighth grade graduation, began his remarks with memories of playing superhero with classmate JP Ward when they were young boys before pivoting to recount the myriad ways that he had witnessed Fenn teachers and staff operating as real-life heroes and role models across his Fenn tenure and in the face of COVID. “We learned from our Fenn teachers, our families, and each other about the power of kindness, loyalty, friendship, respect, curiosity, grit, bravery, passion, dedication, and resilience,” he shared. “These are the powers that really

matter. Fenn has helped us all develop into our own version of a superhero.”

School President, Will Hatten, and Vice President, Teddy Stiga, shared similar gratitude during their remarks at the ninth grade graduation, while also reflecting on the brotherhood that developed within their Fenn class.

“Over the past few years—and we may have COVID to thank for this— we grew into a team,” Will remarked.

“As Henry Ford once said, ‘Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success.’ Our class worked hard to bring the community together during

COVID, and I hope we will look back on these times together as a success.

Every team has its struggles and goes through adversity, and to be successful, every member of the team has to work together while pushing in the same direction. And together, we can climb many mountains, big or small.”

“[This year] tested the resolve of us as individuals and as a school community, and I am proud to say that we passed the test with flying colors. Your collective optimism has been an inspiration and is undeniable proof of the strength of this community.”

–Head of School Derek Boonisar during Prize Day on June 8, 2021

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“Over the past few years—and we may have COVID to thank for this—[our ninth grade class] grew into a team … We worked hard to bring the community together during COVID, and I hope we will look back on these times together as a success.” – Will Hatten, School President Teddy Stiga, in separate remarks, cast a spotlight on the camaraderie that he believes will forever link the class, even going so far as to lobby for it to become a fifth core value at Fenn to

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accompany honesty, respect, empathy, and courage.

“While we would never wish a pandemic on anyone, Fenn allowed us to be here together to find camaraderie that

has helped to build friendships that will last a lifetime … By the end of this year, we could call each other brothers, not just classmates … the connections we made will last forever. And who knows,

maybe Mr. Boonisar will consider adding a fifth core value of camaraderie here at Fenn…?”

Ninth grade classmate Herrick Stevenson rounded out the slate of student speakers at the ninth grade graduation with a presentation of the Class of 2021’s graduation gift to the School. Two new benches will sit along the banks of the Concord River on Fenn’s North Campus in honor of

the class. “We hope that they help to remind the community to slow down and appreciate the natural beauty that we are so fortunate to enjoy here at Fenn,” he urged.

And with that wise recommendation, the graduation celebrations of the week of June 7 had drawn to a close.

May Fenn’s most recent graduates be thriving in the next stage of their educational journeys!

“While we would never wish a pandemic on anyone, Fenn allowed us to be here together and to find camaraderie that has helped to build friendships that will last a lifetime.” – Teddy Stiga, School Vice President winter

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G R A D U A T E S

O F

T H E

C L A S S

O F

2 0 2 1

Charles Greenwood Bartlett

Lucas Beau Greenland

Ethan Alexander Rich

Luke William Tsiaras

Ryan Scott Bettenhauser

William Mark Hatten

Panharith Keo Sam

Joshua Leonard Weig

James Maxwell Carlin

Samuel Gordon Kahn

Colin Peter Soukup

Mark Zixuan Zhang

Wade Frederick Clark

Charles Whalen Krayer

Herrick Wilson Stevenson

John Patrick Doherty

Garrett Joseph Lanagan

Theodore Myles Barclay Stiga

Will Francis Gaynor

Evan Ning

Dereck Rayliu Then

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O F

T H E

C L A S S

O F

2 0 2 2

Callen Hoyt Beveridge

Richard Goin Gallant III

Jackson Christopher Masters

Gabriel Ethan Silverman

Joshua Edward Brennan

Ian Hays Gardiner III

Henry Maynard

Timothy Matthew Smith

Samuel Asher Brock

Joshua Michael Gidlewski II

Braeden Grant Moitoso

Nicholas Andrew Teague

Luke Van Chang

Thomas Jerome Hudner IV

Henry Edward Morgan

Finn Christopher Cleaver Uhrich

Alexander James Chayrigues

Akhil Sai Janapareddy

Thomas Colm Mulvany

William Gray Veague

Thomas Jae Donahue

Calvin Jared Hjalmer Johnson

Connor James Nairus

Oliver Perkins Viehland

John Paul Doty

Brayden Thomas Kavanagh

James Wakelin Oldershaw

John David Wallace

Charles Crabtree Driscoll

Dylan Paul Krayer

Jeremy Lloyd Olson

Alexander Mei-Zhong North Wei

Samuel Thomas Elliott

Xiaocheng Li

William Glynn Ostrow

Charles Ulysses White

Oliver Todd Erston

Gunnar Patrick Lyons

David Ripley Peirce

Douglas Jules Zhang

Max William Frey

Seiji Ansel Ma

Tal Nguyen Richmond

Miles Prentice Fritz

Christopher John Mariani

John Wilson Schneider

Schools Our Fenn Graduates Are Attending Acton-Boxborough Regional High School

Geneva English School

New England Innovation Academy

Bedford High School

Governor’s Academy

Noble and Greenough School

Belmont Hill School

Groton School

Phillips Exeter Academy

Boston University Academy

Hotchkiss School

Pingree School

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Kimball Union Academy

Proctor Academy

Cambridge Rindge and Latin School

Lawrence Academy

Rivers School

Cambridge School of Weston

Lexington High School

St. Andrew’s School

Carroll School

Lincoln-Sudbury High School

St. George’s School

Catholic Memorial High School

Loomis Chaffee School

St. Mark’s School

Concord Academy

Middlesex School

Tabor Academy

Concord-Carlisle High School

Milton Academy

Williston Northampton School

Deerfield Academy

Mount Saint Charles Academy

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Awards and Prizes DU RING GRADU ATION WEEK F ES TIV ITIES ,

the following students received special recognition for their academic

successes, as well as their character, effort, and growth. These prestigious prizes are awarded annually based on recommendations and votes of Fenn School faculty.

Faculty Prize (Fenn’s highest honor, recognizing ninth graders for their character and involvement in school life): Lucas Beau Greenland, Panharith Keo Sam Lovejoy Prize (created in 1998 by Trustee Emeritus Frederick H. Lovejoy, Jr. ’51, recognizing eighth graders for exceptional character, effort, and achievement that enriched the life of the school): Thomas Jae Donahue, William Glynn Ostrow, David Ripley Peirce, Tal Nguyen Richmond, Timothy Matthew Smith Walter W. Birge III Prize for Philanthropy and Support of the Fenn Community (named for a former headmaster, recognizing a ninth grader for his community service and helpfulness to teachers and peers): Will Francis Gaynor, Herrick Wilson Stevenson Dr. Samuel C. Fleming Memorial Prize (established by the class of 1965 in memory of their classmate and friend, recognizing students that persevered in meeting academic challenges): Ryan Scott Bettenhauser, Thomas Colm Mulvany, Gabriel Ethan Silverman, Colin Peter Soukup Mark Biscoe Award (named for former master teacher Mark Biscoe H’95 P’74 ’79, recognizing personal growth and citizenship): Garrett Joseph Lanagan, Theodore Myles Barclay Stiga James R. Carter III ’54 Prize for History and Social Studies Alexander James Chayrigues, Thomas Jae Donahue, William Glynn Ostrow, David Ripley Peirce, Panharith Keo Sam, Timothy Matthew Smith, Mark Zixuan Zhang Tete Cobblah Award for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Luke Van Chang, Panharith Keo Sam

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Eleanor B. Fenn Modern Language Prize Lucas Beau Greenland, Timothy Matthew Smith Austen Fox Riggs Award (given in memory of Austen, a Fenn student from the class of 1955, to Lower School students who most resemble “Autie” in their helpful effort contributed in work and play): Eli Joseph Waldeck David S. Huston Band Award David Ripley Peirce Kirsten Gould Arts Awards Panharith Keo Sam (visual arts); Colin Peter Soukup (drama); Douglas Jules Zhang (music) Lennox Lindsay Latin Prize William Glynn Ostrow, Panharith Keo Sam Alan S. Moats Mathematics Prize Evan Ning, William Glynn Ostrow, Alexander Mei-zhong North Wei, Mark Zixuan Zhang Millar Brainard Science Prize Panharith Keo Sam, Mark Zixuan Zhang William O. Travers Writing Contest Lower School: Fiction – Dante Angelo DiBenedetto, Poetry – Alexander Cronin Sutton, Personal Narrative – Mason Levens Slugg; Middle School: Fiction – Charlie Huxtable Hood, Poetry – William Richard Sandor, Personal Narrative – Liam Matthew Keane; Upper School: Fiction – William Glynn Ostrow, Poetry – Akhil Sai Janapareddy, Personal Narrative – Charles Ulysses White

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Around Campus The grins of these fifth graders and teacher Jon Byrd ’76 represent well the happiness that has come with a methodical loosening of COVID restrictions. While key safety protocols remain to help ensure community health, we are again enjoying interscholastic sports, the sounds of instruments and singers wafting across campus, and actors beaming under Ward Hall spotlights. A Middle School rendition of Sherlock Holmes and the 1st Baker Street Irregular in November marked the first main stage production at Fenn since March 2020. Community gatherings for service learning projects, DEI programs, PA events, and Kane Gallery viewings of an explosion of student art have been equally welcomed! We also continue to embrace activities born during the pandemic. Outdoor Adventure, for one, remains a popular sports alternative for students who enjoy canoeing, fishing, hiking, archery, and exploring nature. Turn the page for a snapshot of our fall and early winter, as well as faculty, staff, and trustee introductions and appointments!

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“Blue and Gold Pact” Unites Community Five years ago, faculty member Brendon Bates introduced the idea of a Lower School pact that would empower students to identify behaviors that they would aspire to uphold within the division that year. School President Luke Waldeck and Vice President Alexander Murdough, both current ninth graders, were members of the fifth grade class that relished the task—so much so that they recommended Fenn pursue a school-wide pact for the 2021-22 school year.

Across grades and divisions, students began brainstorming the areas on which they most wanted the Pact to focus. “Some of the most important conversations happened during the divisional discussions,” shared Ryan Miklusak, faculty partner to Brendon Bates on the effort. “One seventh grade student who is normally on the quieter side had the opportunity to speak to his classmates with the spotlight solely on him. This may not have been a comfortable situation for him normally, but he spoke with courage and pride. This is what the process is all about.”

After weeks of discussion, one student was selected from each grade to represent his peers in a constitutional convention led by Brendon and Ryan. As they navigated a structured process that helped them to identify three specific guidelines for the Fenn community, delegates learned about consensus and compromise, how best to represent an entire school community, and how a ratification process works.

“One of the things I took away from working on this committee was an understanding of how other ages think,” shared ninth-grade delegate Gabe Fonte.

“Even though I’ve been at Fenn since fourth grade, I learned that kids in the grades below me think differently now than when I was at their grade level. It was important that we heard voices from every grade. The impact we all can have helps Fenn become diverse and inclusive of all kids.”

After delegates agreed on and presented the guidelines that would form this year’s “Blue and Gold Pact,” the entire community formally accepted them

during an October 22nd ratification ceremony at All School Meeting. Each community member stepped forward to sign a large banner displaying the guidelines.

Sixth-grade delegate Michael You welcomed the opportunity to represent his fellow students during the process. “The ‘Blue and Gold Pact’ is important not just to me, but to the whole school, because it sets some reachable guidelines for everyone to follow. This is an easy way to improve our community, and it’s great to see others making a difference.”

George Taggart, the seventh-grade delegate, equally understood the Pact’s importance to the student body: “The pact shows what Fenn is—a school community that is kind and respectful. I appreciate that Fenn is always coming up with new ideas to make the school awesome for all students.”

Two banners bearing the guidelines are proudly displayed on-campus—the signed version near the Hammett Ory Library and another on the outside of the Campus Center. Both are lasting reminders of the power of student voice, agency, and leadership.

“This opportunity helped to put Sua Sponte into words that everyone could understand,” remarked Brendon. “The guidelines are the students’ way of bringing to life The Fenn School mission statement and core values of honesty, respect, empathy, and courage.”

“It was important that we heard voices from every grade. The impact we all can have helps Fenn become diverse and inclusive of all kids.” – Gabe Fonte, ninth-grade delegate winter

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All School Meeting Reimagined A cornerstone of The Fenn School experience are weekly All School Meetings.

With COVID protocols challenging our ability to gather as a community in Ward Hall at the start of the school year, we were inspired to get creative to unite faculty, staff, and students outside all-too-familiar Zoom screens. Outdoors was the answer, even in brisk temperatures that required bundling up and huddling up.

The open field before the Advancement Office was our temporary Ward Hall, with a speaker system carrying the sounds of presentations and announcements spanning senior reflections, school updates, sports recaps, art project reveals, and steel drum, hip-hop, and improv comedy performances. The field even hosted an all-school line dance of the Cupid Shuffle accompanied by the school band and the 2021 rendition of A Fenn Christmas Carol. We enjoyed our gathering spot until weather prompted a shift indoors.

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Extemporaneous Speaking Contest Entertains for 70th Year The voice of Athletic Director Bob Starensier had been haunting the dreams of ninth grader Max Lo. Well, not really, but that is how Max riffed during Fenn’s 70th Extemporaneous Speaking Contest on December 10 after receiving the topic: “You know that little voice in the back of your head, well I met it.” Library Teacher Jill MacKinnon, part of a judging trio with DEI Intern Brian Padilla and Auxiliary Staff Member Kai Rogers, bestowed the contest’s first place award on Max. His impressive command of the stage and audience and

ability to relate the topic to life at Fenn earned him the prize.

Honorable Mention awards went to sixth grader Patch Remington for his response to “The Worst Sound in the World” and to eighth grader Jack Tyson who had to describe his “Most Annoying Super Power.” Jack’s surprising answer was powerful coughing, which he repeatedly convinced the audience was not due to COVID. A sure sign of the times!

Both students received accolades for their fantastic stage presence, humor, and

animated storytelling.

All finalists across grades six through nine relished their moment in the spotlight, approaching the contest with confidence, creativity, and good humor that carried from Ward Hall to the Zoom screens of Fenn classrooms and offices. Finalists included sixth graders Ruben Lee, Cass Myler, and Michael You; seventh graders Owen Beauvais, Evan Beetham, Penn Boger, and George Taggart; and eighth graders Eston Brainerd, Thomas Doherty, Henry Gaasch, and Jack Tyson.

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Woodworking Lessons Come to Life at This Old House Renovation There was no toiling away in the Fenn shop during the Upper School woodworking class on November 10. Instead, Paul Heinze’s Wood Shop class was treated to a visit to an 1880 New England Cape nearby campus in Concord that Silva Brothers Construction was renovating for episodes of the popular PBS show This Old House. General Contractor Charlie Silva provided an inside look at the renovation, highlighting his crew’s efforts to maintain the historic integrity of the home. Questions from the Fenn visitors were thoughtful ones, prompting Charlie to share his sincere appreciation for the woodworking study that countless generations of Fenn students have enjoyed. For a window into this renovation, look for Season 43 episodes at ThisOldHouse.com! winter

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Team Sports Return for 2021 Fall Season Excitement was palpable among Fenn’s athletes, coaches, and ever-supportive spectators as interscholastic sports returned to the turf, fields, and courses after a COVID-imposed hiatus during the spring 2021 season.

Football In one of the most successful tackle football seasons in school history, Fenn registered an undefeated record of 4-0-1 with wins over Dexter Southfield School, Noble & Greenough School, and twice over rival Fay School.

The Homecoming crowd witnessed Fenn score a dominating win over Fay School on October 2. The blue-andgold ran off to a 16-0 halftime advantage and went on to win 22-6. Matt Carolan cashed in for 196 yards on the ground and one touchdown, while JP Ward had 190 yards passing and two touchdowns.

Three road games proved to be no obstacle for Fenn, as the team defeated Noble & Greenough (24-18, Oct. 22), Dexter (34-6, Oct. 29), and Fay School under the lights (28-12, Nov. 5). In the season finale, it looked like Fenn might

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let the undefeated season slip away, but the team rallied with 14 unanswered points in the final five minutes to tie Dexter, 14-14, at Reynolds Field.

The game-tying touchdown was a 45-yard screen pass from JP Ward to Matt Carolan. Carolan executed a spin move and stiff arm while evading three would-be tackles before sprinting down the sidelines for the score. Still down two points, Alex Murdough caught the critical two-point conversion to complete the comeback.

“We wished there would have been overtime!” exclaimed Coach Matt Ward ’00. Ward was assisted on the sidelines this season by Chris Ryan ’10 and Ryan Burgess.

Fenn was led by an excellent senior class who stirred up a perfect recipe of skill, leadership, and grit.

“It was a true joy to coach this group of players,” Coach Ward said. “I congratulate them on an exceptional season!”

This year’s team captains all were seniors: Matt Carolan, Gabe Fonte, Alex Murdough, JP Ward, and DJ WinstonJohnson.

Cross-Country Not to be outdone by their football peers, the Fenn cross-country team also stitched together an undefeated season, one that featured the phenomenal individual accomplishments of eighth grader JT Gally.

Among Gally’s many showcase performances, he became the first Fenn runner ever to win the Roxbury Latin Jamboree. On November 3, he ran the Jamboree’s 2.3 mile course in a time of 12 minutes and 50 seconds—an astound-

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Gally Runs Into the Record Books This fall proved to be JT Gally’s best cross-country season of his Fenn career. In addition to becoming the first Fenn runner ever to win the competitive Roxbury Latin Jamboree, JT finished first overall in every race. He also set the Roxbury Latin course record during an away race on October 20. JT’s time of 12:01 was 36 seconds faster than the previous course record.

“Our team showed tremendous growth as runners this fall,” remarked the ever humble Gally when asked about his stellar season. “I’m extremely proud of the work we did as one unit, and our progress reflected that.”

JT added to his exceptional performances this fall by placing first overall at the Massachusetts State Middle School Cross Country Championship in Devens, MA on November 6. JT won the 8th Grade division of 200+ entrants by a staggering 25 seconds over the second place finisher, crossing the finish line in a time of 10:39.

This marks back-to-back State Championships for JT as he finished first overall in the 6th Grade division in 2019. The 2020 competition was cancelled due to COVID. As the fall season concluded, JT still found himself running in high-level competitions. His focus turned to the 2021 USATF New England Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships on November 14 in Nashua, NH, where he finished 6th overall in his division.

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ing 25 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Nineteen schools and 240 runners competed. (See sidebar on Gally’s record breaking season.)

Fenn’s Charlie Gillick, a consistent top-of-the-pack finisher all year, also won a medal by placing tenth at the Jamboree with a time of 14:06.

It was Gillick’s best race of the year.

Rounding out the top five Fenn finishers were sixth grader Kaden Ata and seventh graders Will Parks and Daniel McGowan. Fenn, as a team, placed fifth overall, which was considered the number one spot for schools without high

school level competitors.

“All in all, a very impressive day for Fenn harriers!” proclaimed Coach David Duane.

Fenn won its first meet of the season at Lexington Christian Academy on September 29. Other first place team finishes were posted at Shore Country Day School (Oct. 6), home against St. Sebastian’s School and Carroll School (Oct. 13), and home against Lexington Christian Academy and Pike School (Oct. 22).

“It was an outstanding and successful season,” said Duane.

Varsity Soccer Six shutout victories highlighted the varsity soccer schedule in 2021, with shutdown defense pairing with plenty of offensive power as Fenn posted a 9-1 regular season record.

Coached by Bob Starensier, Jason Rude, and Andy Rentschler, the varsity team opened the season with a fourgame undefeated streak, registering wins over Belmont Hill School (5-2, Sept. 22), Dexter Southfield School (3-0, Sept. 29), and St. Sebastian’s School (7-0, Oct. 1), and at Rivers School in Weston (4-0, Oct 6). A 6-0 loss at Fay wwin i ntter e r 2022 2014 45

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School on October 8 blemished the perfect record, but Fenn got right back on track, concluding the regular season with wins at Shore Country Day School (2-1, Oct. 13) and Jewish Community Day School (5-0, Oct. 14) before returning home for three straight wins over Park School (6-0, Oct. 18), Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School (2-1, Oct. 20), and Shore Country Day School (3-0, Nov. 3). An October 27 Fessenden match-up was cancelled.

On an individual level, eighth grader Cooper Balfour showcased his scoring prowess game after game, highlighting the Fenn attack. The center forward collected a season-high eleven goals, including hat-tricks against Dexter and Park.

Defensively, Fenn was backstopped

by Harry Lavoie, and the team always could count on stalwart defenseman Lyle Waldeck to keep things in control in the defensive zone. Fenn allowed only 10 goals, while scoring an impressive 37, across its regular-season ten games.

At the 46th Annual New England Junior Private School Tournament at

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Eaglebrook School, Fenn finished in sixth place. The capstone event, held in Deerfield, MA, on November 6, included eight teams in grades 6-9. In the opening game of the tournament, Fenn tied Fessenden School, 1-1, late in regulation on a brilliant header from Balfour. The goal forced a penalty kick shootout, which was won by Fessenden.

In the second game, Balfour scored three goals in leading Fenn to a 3-1 victory over Rumsey Hall. Up next, the boys in blue-and-gold fell in a tight game to the host team, Eaglebrook, 1-0, then suffered a 3-1 loss to Cardigan Mountain School and a 6-1 loss to Indian Mountain School.

Coaches Starensier, Rude, and Rentschler praised the Fenn boys: “We were proud of the sportsmanship that the team displayed in the tourney and the outstanding effort against some very talented teams.”

This season’s varsity captains were Cooper Balfour, Lucas DosSantos, Spencer Harnden, and Lyle Waldeck.

Junior Varsity Soccer The JV squad kept pace with the varsity team in 2021, registering a winning season with heart and hustle.

Coach Dave Sanborn’s team started the season with two straight shutout wins: at Lexington Christian Academy (5-0, Sept. 27) and at home versus Fay School (5-0, Oct. 1), implementing a passing rhythm that the team worked hard to continue to develop throughout the season. Milo Schubnel scored three times in the first two games, while Finn Gower picked up a pair of goals.

There was a bump in the road when Fenn fell to The Rashi School (6-1, Oct. 6) before getting back on track at Belmont Hill (2-1, Oct. 8) and tying Pike School (1-1, Oct. 13). After a home loss against a tough Fessenden School squad (4-1, Oct. 15), the JV crew rocketed back with its best streak of the season: three straight wins with games at home versus Lexington Christian Academy (4-0, Oct. 22), at Belmont Day School (5-1, Oct. 28), and home versus Fay School (2-0, Nov. 5). Isah Nichol was good for a goal-a-game during the

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last half of the season.

Fenn closed the books with their second loss to an undefeated Rashi team (3-0, Nov. 10). Fenn finished with a 6-3-1 record. A scheduled Oct. 27 game with Fessenden was cancelled.

According to Coach David Sanborn, additional highlights included, “Finn Gower’s and Isah Nichol’s relentless pressing and blazing runs along the wings, Blue Muir’s and John Mulvany’s highintensity defensive battles, and stellar ball control and distribution through midfield from Ethan Pearson, Ebrahim Saeed, Milo Schubnel, and Theo Snydman.”

The JV team received stellar goaltending from Horace Pott and Penn Boger during the season, who both were fearless in dominating periods of play at different points in 2021.

Sanborn was assisted by Coaches Dominic Dipersia and Quinn Writer this season. Ninth grader Thomas Livens led the way as the JV captain.

Thirds Soccer Across an extremely productive season, Thirds Soccer showcased one of the more competitive squads of recent years.

Coaches Jonathan Wachs and Jalen Joncas ’10, expressed how positive this

season was from start to finish. “We had 18 players on our team with only some to little soccer experience, but they came motivated each day ready to learn and eager to play!”

Self-proclaimed as the “Bee Swarm,” the team made an effort to shift the stigma that Thirds Soccer couldn’t be competitive, and that they did, finishing 6-4 on the season. Credit goes to the players for their continuous team building, personal and athletic growth, and enthusiasm on the pitch.

After starting the year 2-1 with wins versus Dexter and Pike School and a loss to Fay School, the team went on the road for a comeback win, scoring two late goals to beat Shore Country Day School.

After a couple of tough losses to Carroll School and Belmont Day School, the Bee Swarm buzzed through their next three games with back-to-back wins over Fessenden, one featuring a hat-trick from Eston Brainerd, and a huge road win over rival Fay School—their highlight win of the season.

Rohan Rege stepped into the goalie position this season with no prior experience in net and rose to the occasion, becoming one of the team leaders. Alex Spence and Evren Khan

also made key contributions and strides in their play throughout the season.

In the season finale, Fenn dropped a 3-1 decision to a tough Carroll team, but this game showed Fenn’s growth too, as the team narrowed the scoring gap substantially from the first matchup with Carroll School.

“This has been the highlight of my year so far—being able to coach this group!” shared Coach Wachs.

This year’s captains were Jonas Ahlgren, Rohan Rege, and Xavi West.

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Faculty and Staff Introductions and Transitions With each school year, we welcome new colleagues and support returning colleagues in new roles.

Both instantly enrich the community with their new energy, ideas, and perspectives. We also wish happiness and success to colleagues who moved on to retirement and other pursuits.

INTRODUCTIONS Soma Choudhury Soma Choudhury joined Fenn last summer as our new registrar. She hails most recently from a similar position at Vedanta Life Academy and held prior roles as a teacher trainer at Modern Montessori International and executive assistant to the business manager at American Embassy School, both in New Delhi, India.

Dominic Dipersia In October, Dominic Dipersia dove enthusiastically into life at Fenn in his new role as assistant director of marketing & communications. Prior to Fenn, Dom

served for three years as a communications analyst at Fidelity Investments and for nearly an equal stint of time as a communications coordinator and three-season coach at Bancroft School in Worcester, MA. Dom’s passion for coaching has been put to good use at Fenn, as he assisted with JV Soccer this fall, coached Thirds Basketball, and will coach Varsity Tennis this spring.

Joanna Dunn An artist and art educator, Joanna Dunn joined Fenn as our new ceramics teacher this year. She is most passionate about helping Fenn boys connect to their intellectual and emotional growth through art. Joanna most recently co-directed and taught at the Sugarhill Art Center, following

positions at Pinecones and Needles in Belmont, MA, Mass College of Art, Rhode Island College, and North Park College in Chicago, IL. Alison Flanagan We were thrilled to welcome Alison Flanagan back to Fenn to become our new administrator of health services.

During a recent four-year span, Alison had served as a substitute nurse at Fenn. She offers deep experience in schools—Groton School and Nashoba Brooks School, among them—as well as other institutions and organizations in and around Concord, and she has played a vital role in helping to guide Fenn’s COVID management strategy and practices to keep the community healthy and safe.

A GRATEFUL COMMUNITY “Thank you for helping us in these hard times!” “COVID can’t keep you down!” These are among the sentiments that our Lower School students conveyed in creative and colorful cards and notes that their class senators delivered to Mrs. Flanagan in the Health Office this winter. They now adorn the hallway outside her office, echoing the gratitude of the larger Fenn community for her tireless work helping to keep the community healthy and safe in the face of COVID while supporting the various other health needs that arise during action-packed days at Fenn.

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Eric Harrison Eric Harrison took the reins as the new chair of Fenn’s English department upon joining the school community this fall. He is also connecting with students through Fenn athletics, including as assistant coach for JV Basketball. Eric hailed most recently from Landon School in Bethesda, MD, where he served as an academic dean and Middle School English teacher and coach. He also enjoyed earlier positions at Hebron Academy (ME) and Dexter Southfield School.

Stacey Low Accomplished educator Stacey Low assumed the teaching, advising, and coaching responsibilities for a Lower School faculty member who was on leave at the start of the school year and continued to support the advancement of Fenn’s curricula, learning, and teaching as an additional resource following that. Stacey offers a wealth of independent school experience from teaching at The Fessenden School, Indian Mountain School, and Milton Academy and serving as director of admissions and director of residential life at Applewild School. She also spends summers working at the Cardigan Mountain Summer School.

Jill MacKinnon Jill MacKinnon joined the Hammett Ory Library team as a part-time library teacher. Jill came to Fenn after most recently serving as a Middle School English and language arts teacher at St. Paul American School Hanoi in

Vietnam. She also previously taught in the Belmont and Dover-Sherborn public school systems. We are thrilled to have her round out our new library team!

Tom O’Connor Tom O’Connor joined this fall as another new member of the humanities department in Fenn’s Middle School. He also recently became the new leader of the tech crew for Fenn productions, taking the baton from Rob Morrison who served in that role for the past 21 years. Tom most recently served as an English and language arts teacher at B.F. Butler Middle School in Lowell, MA, with prior stops at Tremont School and Shady Hill School.

Brian Padilla Brian Padilla came to Fenn this fall to serve as a DEI Intern. Brian cofacilitates student DEI committees and assists with programming for the Parents’ Affinity Group for Diversity and Inclusion (PADI), among other roles. He also engages with students in a sixth grade world cultures and geography course and on the basketball court as a coach.

Brian previously was a teacher’s aide at Wellesley High School and Newton Central High School and a group leader at Camp Cobbossee in Monmouth, Maine.

Kaiam (Kai) Rogers Joining Fenn’s auxiliary team this fall was Kaiam (Kai) Rogers.

An experienced outdoor educator, Kai is a familiar face to Summer Fenn Day Camp families and campers. Among other varied responsibilities, Kai facilitated the high ropes courses at Summer Fenn during recent summers. He has also served as a teacher with Nature’s Classroom since 2009 and was assistant manager of the daycare at Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, VT, for over three years.

Skylar Seligman Skylar Seligman’s passion is developing youth as empowered, effective, and empathetic leaders, which is serving her quite well in her role as DEI intern. Skylar’s most recent professional experience was with Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit dedicated to developing courageous leaders who work to create more just and inclusive societies, and Project Adventure, which empowers individuals and communities to make positive change through experiential learning. She is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Siobhan Smith As Fenn’s new Director of the Hammett Ory Library, Siobhan Smith has made the library a lively place to learn in collaboration with new library colleague Jill MacKinnon!

Siobhan had been tackling all areas of

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library work at Conant School in Acton, MA, for seven years prior to her arrival on Monument Street. Positions at The Community School and The Barn School preceded her time at Conant School.

Harvard, she worked at Middlesex School as the controller. Stephanie’s enthusiasm for the role and community is infectious, and she even ran in the Kevin White Memorial Run at Homecoming!

to the president and interim director of guidance and college counseling. She also enjoyed earlier positions in admissions at Boston College High School and Bentley University.

Stephanie Taylor Stephanie Taylor is the newest member of Fenn’s Business Office team, joining the community in October as Fenn’s new business manager. Stephanie came to Fenn from Harvard University, where she served as senior financial accountant for the Harvard College Library system. Prior to

Erika Vardaro Erika Vardaro assumed the position of executive assistant to Head of School Derek Boonisar this past June, following the retirement of long-time staff member Pat Hall.

Erika came to Fenn from Notre Dame Academy in Hingham, MA, where she served as special assistant

Randi Currier and Sara Williams Also joining Fenn’s learning specialist department this year are Randi Currier and Sara Williams. Randi offers extensive teaching experience from area schools including Nashoba Brooks School, Buckingham Browne & Nichols, Shady Hill School, and Lincoln Public School. Sara held myriad teaching positions at Driscoll Elementary School in Brookline across her 13 years there and has been a private tutor in the Hingham area.

FENN ALUMNI RETURN TO THEIR ROOTS assisting the Building and Grounds team part-time around his college classes. Pipo was particularly excited to see his former teachers and the changes to the campus since he was a student.

E.J. Fitzsimmons ’13 and Pipo Fitzsimmons ’14 Brothers E.J. Fitzsimmons ’13 and Pipo Fitzsimmons ’14 recently came onboard as staff members, joining father and long-time Fenn faculty member John Fitzsimmons. E.J. assumed the role of Innovation Lab coordinator now that the space has reopened after a temporary closure due to COVID, and Pipo is

Jackson McCloy ’03 Jackson McCloy ’03 joined Fenn’s auxiliary team in late October and has thoroughly enjoyed being back on campus and working alongside some of his past teachers. Jackson previously worked at Fenn coaching in the Middle School and at Summer Fenn Day Camp and Star Camps.

Alan O’Neill ’98 This past summer, Alan O’Neill ’98 returned to Monument Street to fill the role of director of alumni relations and alumni giving. He had previously served as assistant director of admissions at Fenn from 2009 to 2014. After his earlier stint at Fenn, Alan went on to hold admissions director and associate director positions at Indian Mountain School and The Sage School, respectively.

“Returning to Fenn has helped me to appreciate how significant this School, these teachers, and this community were for me as a young person and how our values truly became a part of my core.” – Alan O’Neill ’98 52 ffeennnn mmaaggaazziinnee

Passing the Baton AFTER 22 YEARS

as head of the Middle School, Tricia McCarthy has

passed the leadership baton of her beloved division on to faculty colleague Kate Wade. Tricia now focuses on teaching, coaching, and advising in the Middle School and leveraging her deep experience advocating for and supporting the social and emotional learning and needs of all Fenn students.

“I always loved the social and emotional aspect of the Middle School Head’s role, especially supporting the growth of character in the boys,” Tricia remarked.

“In Middle School, boys are at a crossroads trying to figure out who they are going to be. There is a quickly closing window, but we have an opportunity to help them grow through their mistakes and successes equally. And seeing the growth happen across those years is so gratifying.”

Eighth grader Jackson Kilmartin was one of many students who benefitted from Tricia’s presence and support. “Ms. McCarthy was always there for me and made me feel like I always had someone to talk to,” he shared. “She also made me a much more confident Middle Schooler.”

Ninth graders Spencer Harnden and Lyle Waldeck also felt—and still feel—her unwavering support.

“During my Middle School years, Ms. McCarthy was always willing to help me, and she’s someone I still reach out to today,” remarked Lyle. Spencer added, “She actually helped me write my Senior Reflection when I didn’t know what to write about… She was so supportive and really cared about my opinions.”

A wealth of support certainly was needed when COVID canceled the seventh grade’s legendary annual trip to Washington, D.C., leaving students understandably disappointed. “Ms. McCarthy helped us move past [the disappointment] with her kindness,” ninth grader JP Ward shared. With this her last D.C. trip at the helm, she likely shared some of their sadness.

Kate Wade was an equal beneficiary of Tricia’s support during their transition of duties. “Tricia took the time and care to guide me through the nuances

of the role,” she shared. “I’m proud to inherit the student-first culture that she established in the Middle School. This exists today because she and our team of advisors always go the extra mile to get to know our students and learn what they love, what makes them tick, and how to engage them in learning and growing.”

“Tricia cared so deeply for the two decades’ worth of students who traveled through the Middle School under her leadership,” added Head of School Derek Boonisar. “And she was as invested in supporting the teachers who were her partners in helping the boys navigate the complexities of the Middle School years. We thank her for her service in the division head’s role and look forward to the impact she will continue to have here at Fenn as a faculty member and social emotional resource for the community.”

APPPOINTMENTS AND DEPARTURES After serving as learning specialists at Fenn since 2019, Kristen Bates now teaches fifth grade language arts and social studies, and Laura Canina teaches seventh grade math. Morgan Laird also now teaches Lower School science and social studies after two years on the auxiliary and DEI teams.

Faculty members Emmalee Fay and Rob Morrison are enjoying new roles as co-coordinators of service learning, and Jonathan Wachs is now a full-time mem-

ber of the visual arts department after three years as a part-time teacher.

In addition to the four colleagues celebrated earlier in this issue, we also said goodbye at the end of the last school year to ceramics teacher Carolyn Dittes, Lower School teacher Kristin FitzGerald, library teacher Michelle Fontaine, Administrator of Health Services Julie Genova, Fenn fellows Jack Gustavson ’12 and Luke Randle ’11, Marketing and

Communications Associate Jordan Hill, Library Director Sam Kane, DEI Associate Megan Macomber, Math Department Chair Jennifer Youk See, nurse Jane Spigel, tutors Kristen Bock and Polly Vanasse, and auxiliary team members Will Blumenthal, Lee Haber, Mike Marinella ’04, Dontano Rinaldi, and Terrance Wong. Jalen Joncas ’10 has also left Fenn after serving on the auxiliary team and as a soccer coach this past fall. wwin i ntter e r 2014 2022 53 53

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Kate Wade Appointed New Head of the Middle School FOLLOWING A NATIONAL SEARCH

and interview process, Kate Wade was appointed the new head of

the Middle School after three years as Fenn’s English department chair and a teacher, coach, and advisor.

According to Head of School Derek Boonisar, “Kate impressed us with her commitment to educating Middle School boys and supporting Middle School advisors and teachers; her appetite for collaboration; her experience, wisdom, and ability to assess and mobilize best practice; and her goal of being an engaged and highly visible leader in all aspects of school life.

Read on to hear why Kate is thrilled to serve Fenn in this new role and what most inspires her.

IN HER OWN WORDS… How did the path of your career lead you to middle school?

There was a moment in 2014 or 2015 when I realized I was meant to be with younger kids. I was teaching high school at The Rivers School, and the expectations for the students whom I was teaching were becoming more complicated. The top-down pressure to get into college was starting to change the dynamic in the classroom.

My natural tendency as a classroom teacher is to create an engaging and dynamic environment, but I was missing some of the exuberance, joyfulness, and silliness that seemed to come more easily from my younger students. I realized that if I love the unscripted moments, the messiness of learning, and a spirited and bouncy class, I’m at the wrong level.

I needed to be in middle school.

Why was Fenn of interest to you once you realized that you wanted to make a shift?

I knew Derek Boonisar and Nat Carr ’97 through our shared work with The Gardner Carney Leadership Institute.

I really enjoyed hearing about all that was going on at Fenn when I would see 54 ffeennnn mmaaggaazziinnee

them at conferences, but the Fenn boys themselves were actually my hook, line, and sinker.

I taught Fenn graduates at Rivers, and year after year, they were the kids who were making the right choices, who knew how to partner with adults, who came to extra help to work on their essays, and who knew how to receive feedback and talk through it. So, when the opportunity to come to Fenn arose, I was all over it!

Everything aligned in that moment.

The Fenn community welcomed me immediately, and I made instant connections with faculty and staff, many of whom are now my dearest friends. I also realized that I had a skill set that I could use to help build community and grow the institution while having a really good time doing it.

Did you always know you wanted to be a school administrator?

That revelation came in 2013 when I realized I was a “school person” who really enjoyed wearing many different hats. At my last school, I was a teacher, coach, dean, admissions officer, and academic counselor. I was on the facilities committee, was the faculty advisor to the

Gender Sexuality Alliance and Student Council, and was deeply engaged in designing and implementing service learning and leadership programming.

Strategic thinking has also always excited me. I love creating a vision for a school, working with colleagues to realize that vision, and coming together as a team to be that version of ourselves.

It’s really exciting and invigorating work, but usually when you do that, you don’t get to be in a classroom. I knew I always wanted to be able to teach.

This Middle School Head position was everything that I had hoped for in my career coming together in one package. I had the dean of student’s experience so I felt like I was wellprepared to address social/emotional and student life-related issues, and I loved working with teachers to support them in creating environments for students to grow and thrive. I could also still teach an English class or two and hit the ice to enjoy time as a (hockey) coach. I did not have to sacrifice the important connection time with students in favor of thinking time with adults. The fact that this all came together at one school is pretty darn awesome.

Middle School is a place where the messiness of learning is embraced, and each student is known, understood, and valued for who they are.

What are your personal aspirations for this role and for the Middle School Division under your leadership?

My vision for our Middle School is that it is a place where students are engaged in deep learning and feel challenged, supported, and always able to be themselves. It is a training ground where students are building foundations for their academic skill sets and character every day. We are always creating something: a new identity or a new understanding, a connection with a peer, an awesome essay with an English teacher. There is always a sense of dynamic creation and innovation.

It also is a place where we are testing things out, and not just in science class or the Innovation Lab. We are testing the limits of our patience, testing boundaries in our relationships. Getting that feedback and working to overcome challenges with people that we trust is the work of educating ourselves. Our students are so well prepared from our Lower School to trust the adults in their lives and to ask for help when they need it, and they therefore feel more confident when they are facing obstacles or opportunities to take a risk and grow. Ultimately, our

Who is Kate Wade outside of Fenn – professionally and personally?

One of the most transformational professional experiences I’ve had has been my ongoing relationship with The Gardner Carney Leadership Institute (gcLi). gcLi is committed to teaching teachers the Pedagogy of Leadership®, and my work as the executive editor for the organization has led to the most incredible conversations with folks all over the world.

In my role of overseeing the blog, I get to cultivate relationships with superstar educators at the forefront of their respective fields and help them tell their stories. My relationship with gcLi extends back to 2011 when I attended their Leadership Lab and continued when I returned three years later as an Institute Scholar. That same year, gcLi presented me with the opportunity to be the recipient of the inaugural gcLi

Fellowship, offered in collaboration with the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, to the Masters in School Leadership Program at PennGSE. At PennGSE, I continued my studies in leadership and focused my capstone thesis on evaluating leadership growth in students engaged in service learning. Truthfully, gcLi and my incredible graduate school experience at PennGSE, and most importantly my mentors from these phenomenal institutions, have shaped me into the educator I am today.

On the homefront, I get to hang out with the coolest folks. My husband Ken and I share a passion for hockey and enjoy cooking up a storm and watching Bruins games with our kids, Emily, a sixth grader, and Thomas, a kindergartener. On weekends, we’re likely at the rink or taking our dog Casey out for a walk in the neighborhood. Recently, my daughter has been tearing through the Harry Potter series so we’re officially Potterheads, which has helped me immensely in some recent trivia contests at Flex Block!

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New Board Chair Elected Jim Kitendaugh P’97 ’05 concludes a tenure of exemplary leadership during a time of great transition and opportunity at Fenn.

This past July, Taragh Mulvany ’87 was voted in as the new chair of Fenn’s Board of Trustees, following Jim Kitendaugh. Taragh is a proud alumnus of the class of 1987, along with brothers Jon ’85 and David ’95, and joined the Fenn Board in 2019. His father, Jack, also served as a Fenn trustee from 19821986. Both the John G. Mulvany Faculty Center in the Schoolhouse building and the endowed John G. Mulvany Fund for faculty professional development bear his name in recognition of his support of Fenn teachers. As a plaque hanging in the Mulvany Center aptly reads, “Jack Put Teachers at the Center.” Taragh remarked, “I look forward to continuing my father’s legacy. As an alum and now parent, I know full well that it’s the teacher/student relationship that makes Fenn a unique place.”

Having grown up in Concord, Taragh resides there today with his wife, Babbie, who currently serves as vice president of student & school life on the Parents Association Board; with sons John (7th grade) and Ryan (6th grade), who are continuing the Mulvany tradition at Fenn; and with seven-year-old daughter Caitlin.

Taragh has enjoyed 20 years at UBS in Boston, including running the Middle Market Institutional Equity Group for the Americas. For eight years prior, he worked for Thomas Weisel Partners,

Alex Brown & Sons, and PaineWebber.

Taragh holds a bachelor of arts in economics from St. Lawrence University and, in his free time, enjoys coaching his kids in soccer and lacrosse, traveling, golfing, and skiing.

“It is fantastic for Fenn to have Taragh Mulvany as its new Board Chair,” remarked Head of School Derek Boonisar. “He has such a deep history with Fenn and an intimate understanding of the impact that the School can have on young boys as they develop into young men. I am thoroughly enjoying the partnership that Taragh and I have already forged in these early months of his tenure as Board Chair.

“I am also forever indebted to Jim Kitendaugh for his exemplary service to Fenn and to me, personally, as I transitioned into my new role as Head of School,” he added. “Jim’s wisdom, perspective, and ability to skillfully lead Fenn’s Board of incredibly accomplished individuals were simply remarkable.”

The Board stint that recently concluded was Jim’s second, after serving from 1999-2005 and agreeing to rejoin the Board in 2015. He was then named Board Chair in July of 2016. Jim’s tenure marked a time of significant transition in the history of Fenn, encompassing the highly successful In Our Hands capital campaign; the creation of a new Campus Center incorporating a renovated

Connolly Dining Hall, Moriarty Learning Commons, and Stone Family Innovation Lab; and the purchase of North Campus with its stunning and functional Concord River access.

The retirement of Headmaster Jerry Ward after 25 years at the helm was yet another milestone moment for the School, followed by the search for a new Head of School that Jim helped to guide, and the ultimate transitioning of Derek into the role after 23 prior years at Fenn. Jim also helped to spearhead the research, brainstorming, and devel-

“I look forward to continuing my father’s legacy. As an alum and now parent, I know full well that it’s the teacher/student relationship that makes Fenn a unique place.” – Taragh Mulvany ’87, new Board Chair 56 ffeennnn mmaaggaazziinnee

“I was delighted to be able to serve as chair during a dynamic and exciting time for Fenn, and equally delighted that Taragh has succeeded me … He is an outstanding leader for Fenn—we are in very good hands.” – Jim Kitendaugh P’97 ’05, former Board chair opment of the School’s first Gender Identity Statement. Navigating COVID

we are in very good hands.”

While Jim has officially concluded

to craft Fenn strategic plans for the two prior 10-year periods.

presented unique strategic challenges

his Board tenure, he continues to serve

during his later Board years.

Fenn as it undertakes strategic and

ities, it is the Fenn community’s hope

long range planning for the 10 years

that Jim will now have ample time to

as chair during a dynamic and exciting

of 2022-2032. Calling on his expertise

enjoy many new adventures with wife,

time for Fenn, and equally delighted that

as a former consultant for non-profit

Lynne Cavanaugh, sons David ’97 and

Taragh has succeeded me,” Jim shared.

organizations on fundraising, planning,

Ben ’05 and their spouses, and his pre-

“He is an outstanding leader for Fenn—

and leadership development, Jim helped

cious granddaughter, Maddie.

“I was delighted to be able to serve

Beyond these lingering responsibil-

Shaping the Future of Fenn A Strategic and Long Range Planning Process (SLRP) to chart the course for Fenn’s next 10 years has been actively underway since its fall launch. An executive committee of administrators, faculty, staff, and trustees is overseeing the effort, with trustee Hilary Steinert P’15 ’16 serving as SLRP Chair.

Five subcommittees are guiding work in the areas of Mission, Core Values, and Philosophy; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; People; Program; and Resources. Working groups that report into each subcommittee have been meeting in earnest to analyze Fenn’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in myriad areas and to develop recommendations for Fenn to consider pursuing through 2032.

A written plan detailing the approved goals, objectives, and priorities that will guide the School for the next 10 years

will be shared with the community by the end of 2022.

“We are fortunate to be engaging in the SLRP process following a successful last 10 years,” remarked Derek Boonisar.

“We, however, are leaving no stone unturned in our evaluation. In some areas, we may affirm where we are and recommend subtle enhancements— Mission, Core Values, and Philosophy is one area where this may apply. In other areas, there may be a greater need and inspiration for growth and development.”

Fenn’s SLRP effort is closely coordinating with the Sustainability Master Planning Process spearheaded

by Director of Sustainability Cameren Cousins to set climate action and sustainability goals for the School.

This process is nearing the end of the plan development and implementation strategy phase. Later this spring,

the Fenn community will have an opportunity to review the goals that are set forth in the Educating for Sustainability, Built and Natural Campus, and Sustainable Operations focus areas.

Community input is invaluable to both efforts. Thank you to the faculty, staff, current parents and alumni parents, alumni, and Board of Visitors members for their participation in community conversations, events, and online surveying that have helped to inform the efforts.

“Many important topics have been reviewed and discussed thus far in our SLRP process,” remarked Hilary Steinert. “This is an exciting time for Fenn, and I am delighted with the robust participation from all of our constituencies.”

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Welcome to Fenn’s New Trustees Fenn enthusiastically welcomes these four accomplished and dedicated alumni parents to the Fenn Board of Trustees. The Board and larger Fenn community will greatly benefit from their passion for Fenn, varied professional expertise, and impressive philanthropic pursuits.

l. to r. Lan Zhang, Laura Johnson, Lindsay Boger, and Melissa McCray

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Lindsay Hoover Boger P’24 Lindsay and her husband, Matt ’89, became Fenn parents in 2018 when their son, Penn, entered fourth grade. He is now a seventh grader. Their daughter, Addison, is a sophomore at ConcordCarlisle High School.

Before coming to Fenn, Lindsay served for one year as vice president and two years as co-president of the Willard Elementary School Parent Teacher Group and as secretary on the Parents Association Board at Nashoba Brooks School. Lindsay was active with the Fenn Parents Association (PA) as a grade parent for both fourth and fifth grades and last year filled the role of vice president of parent programs and events. She currently serves as PA president.

Lindsay volunteers with several organizations in the area in various capacities and serves on the boards of Runway for Recovery and the Middlesex Chapter of the National Charity League.

Professionally, she is a clinical social worker who has worked in special needs adoption and at Shriners Burn Hospital, where she continues to serve as an on-call social worker.

Lindsay received her master’s degree in social work from Boston College and bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dickinson College.

Laura Cooley Johnson P’20 ’22 Laura has more than 20 years of human resources experience and is currently senior vice president of corporate HR for the TJX Companies. Prior to TJX, she spent over 15 years in HR for the Consumer Goods industry. She was with General Mills for over 13 years, including as the head of HR for General Mills Europe and Australia, and she and her family lived as expats in Switzerland.

Laura also served as director for international compensation and global stock operations there, gaining extensive compensation experience.

Laura left General Mills when her family moved back to the U.S., and she later joined Henkel to lead HR for the North America region. She began her career in management consulting at American Management Systems, Inc., where she discovered her passion for HR. Laura is originally from the Boston area and now lives in Concord with husband, Jared, and sons, Elliot ’20 and Calvin ’22. She holds a bachelor’s degree in German language and literature from Harvard University and an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University.

She also currently serves as vice president of the Alumni Board for Harvard Student Agencies (HSA), a fully student-run organization, and is a member of the Board of Directors for HSA’s The Harvard Shop.

Melissa McCray P’18 ’21 Melissa has rejoined the Fenn Board of Trustees after serving a one-year term as trustee while she was president of the Parents Association during the 20192020 school year.

Melissa is the co-founder of Two Webster, an online retail business designing and selling home accessories, and runs its traditional retail businesses in Wellesley and Osterville, MA. She was previously co-founder of TophDaddy Designs, a t-shirt company that was a cult favorite among locals and celebrities.

After graduating from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in political science, Melissa first held client service and marketing positions in the financial services industry for Putnam Investments; Scudder, Stevens and Clark; and Gannett, Welsh & Kotler.

Melissa’s contributions to Fenn have been numerous, including raising money for the Parents Association by chairing the school auction and logo wear committees. She has also served on the Combined Jewish Philanthropy Young Adult Task Force and on the planning committee for the “Heading Home to Dinner” design-and-dine

event benefiting the nonprofit Heading Home in its work to provide aid and housing to homeless families.

Melissa is the mother of Carter ’18 and Brandon ’21.

Lan Zhang P’21 ’24 After growing up in Beijing, China, Lan moved to the United States in 2000 to attend Northeastern University. She holds a master of science in electrical engineering.

Lan’s career spans more than 15 years in the technology industry, most recently as a staff engineer at Qualcomm where she develops new technology.

Lan also has a passion for contributing to the community and has served in several non-profit organizations. She was elected to the Chinese-American Association of Sudbury (CAAS) board and served for two terms (20162018 and 2018-2020). Lan focuses on promoting public awareness of Asian Americans, Asian heritage, and multicultural communication. She led her team to conduct multiple rounds of successful fundraising in a short period to help the local community during COVID. In 2020, Lan co-founded the non-profit organization Warm Hands, which aims to empower children and youth to engage in volunteer work by providing educational, cultural, and other support services to local communities. During her years at Fenn, Lan was an active contributor to school events.

She served on the Parents Association board as the volunteer coordinator and on the Board of Visitors. She was also chair of the PA’s service learning and diversity committees.

Lan is the mother of Evan Ning ’21 and Alex Ning ’24.

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Alumni News Fall on the Fenn campus isn’t quite complete without generations of alumni returning for their class reunions and a day of Homecoming celebrating that accompanies it. The return of an in-person Reunion and Homecoming Weekend this year after a Zoom rendition last year was exhilarating, and a full program of activities greeted everyone who arrived for it. New to Homecoming this year was the Luke Rogers ’06 Memorial Soccer Game, which was surely enjoyed by this group of alumni players and Luke’s parents pictured here. Dive into the action of all of the weekend’s festivities with a turn of the page.

Planning for Reunion and Homecoming Weekend 2022 is already underway, so be sure to mark your calendars for September 30 and October 1!

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After a year’s pause due to the pandemic, Reunion and Homecoming festivities returned to the Fenn campus with much fanfare on October 1-2, 2021, as nearly 400 alumni and their families, current students and families, parents of alumni, past and present faculty and staff, and friends came together to celebrate the Blue-and-Gold.

REUNION On Friday afternoon, October 1, the 50th Reunion Class from 1971 kicked off their celebrating with the support of now-familiar Zoom technology. Classmates assembled in the Hammett Ory Library were happily reunited with others who were connecting in from their homes, vehicles, or wherever their afternoons had taken them. Memories of performing in The Pirates of Penzance, going head-to-head against Fay School on the football field with Read Albright H’03 as coach, and trips to Mystic Seaport with faculty legend Mark Biscoe H’95 flooded back for the long-ago Fenn boys.

A special gathering to remember and honor the life of Mark Biscoe after his passing in December 2020 also graced Friday’s program. See pages 68-71 for a profile piece on that celebration and on the lasting tributes that Fenn has established in his name.

That same evening, alumni and other guests came together on the Thomas Family Green in front of Ward Hall for a cocktail reception featuring Fenn’s 2021 Distinguished Alumnus Award winner, Alex Lynch ’66. A surprise visit and moving remarks from Alex’s brother, Vinnie Lynch, ’64 complemented beautifully Alex’s own expression of gratitude for the award. See pages 72-73 for a celebration of Alex’s accomplishments and highlights from his campus visit.

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HOMECOMING Homecoming Day on Saturday began with the 2.1-mile Kevin White ’93 Memorial Run to benefit the Kevin P. White ’93 Scholarship Fund established in 2016 by Kevin’s family and friends to honor and celebrate his life and love of Fenn and to support students with financial need. Kevin’s parents, Bill and Mary Jo White, were in attendance, along with Kevin’s brother, Andrew White ’93, and friend and classmate Chris Millerick ’93. A record 65 participants of alumni, parents, students, family members, and friends tackled the annual run around Fenn’s campus.

The first annual Luke Rogers ’06 Memorial Soccer Game also hit the turf that afternoon.

Sporting custom jerseys designed by Henry Amoah ’05 in Luke’s memory and generously provided by Luke’s parents, Laura Johnson and Tooey Rogers, members of the Class of 2006 split into two teams with other Fenn alumni and current varsity soccer players for a tightly matched game.

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A carnival and Summer Fenn Kids Corner, BBQ lunch, Fenn logo wear sale hosted by the Parents Association, and Fenn vs.

Fay School football game (a win for the home team!) also entertained the home crowd. Rounding out the day’s festivities was a festive Alumni and Parents of Alumni Tailgate, complete with live music, food and beverages from the Chicken & Rice Guys and Allagash Beer (in honor of founder Rob Todd ’83), and a spirited cornhole tournament. What a perfectly full program to mark the return of this beloved annual Blue-and-Gold weekend!

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Mark W. Biscoe celebrated at memorial event

— BY LAURIE O’NEILL

“He was a true shaper of the best habits of body and mind.”

“He loved, lived, and breathed Fenn.”

“He was the guiding light in my life.”

ON AN EARLY AUTUMN EVENING

this past fall, their words floating over the sun-dappled field in front

of the Farm House and continuing until the shadows lengthened and dusk settled over the campus, several members of the extended Fenn community offered heartfelt tributes to the late Mark W. Biscoe H’95.

It was a fitting spot in which to celebrate Mark—teacher, coach, advisor, and mentor to countless alumni for thirty-seven years, and friend to former and current faculty and staff. Mark remained closely connected to Fenn after his retirement in 1995 until his passing in December 2020.

Mark and Jane once lived in the Farm House and their children played on that field. He began serving as a dorm parent in 1958 and two years later he was joined by his new bride, Jane. For the next sixteen years they tended their brood of young boarders, many of whom

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cherish the memories of the kindness and care the couple showed them.

Among the speakers at the October 1 event were Mark and Jane’s children Kate Biscoe Turlo, Mark Biscoe Jr. ’74, and Andy Biscoe ’79. Also presenting were Bob Albright ’81 and his mom, Jo; Matt Boger ’89; David Cohen ’89; James Owens ’72; Geoffrey Smith ’62; and Bob and Kathy Starensier.

Jane, who sported a blue and gold Fenn cap while greeting guests before the program began, watched and listened from the first row with other family members, all of them deeply touched

by the tributes.

Head of School Derek Boonisar welcomed guests, some of whom were at Fenn for Alumni Reunion and Homecoming. “Mark inspired literally thousands of students and colleagues to be their best selves,” Derek said. He noted that the 1995 yearbook was dedicated to Mark, and in the dedication were comments such as “He is the heart of Fenn and what it stands for” and “When he leaves he will take part of Fenn with him.”

Kate Biscoe Turlo remembered her father’s “great sense of work and

family balance.” She praised him for “the adversity he overcame,” referring to Mark’s life-long stammer. “It took so much courage for him to stand in front of a classroom and speak to the boys.”

Her brother Andy said he and his siblings wished to honor their dad’s “integrity, kindness, tremendous patience, and superlative listening skills.” He noted Mark’s “powerful and resonant voice,” and referred to his father’s love of athleticism and competition, especially on the basketball court, saying that “He loved coaching and was entirely transfixed by every game.”

Mark Jr. noted the role of the field in his life. His dad would run laps around it for exercise and play Frisbee with him. Noting that Mark loved baseball, too, he led the gathering in singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

Jo Albright, whose husband, Read, taught and coached for many years at

Fenn, said her family’s friendship with the Biscoes was a close and devoted one, though when Read and Mark were coaching opposing teams, “life for all of us could get a bit tense.”

Jo and Jane would park their station wagons side by side at the football field, setting up porta cribs for toddlers Channing Albright and Andy Biscoe when Mark and Read Albright would lead rival squads, Read the gold and Mark the blue. “Whether we remained on campus to visit depended on the outcome of the game; losing was not an option for either coach,” Jo added, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Jo’s son, Bob, said the Biscoes were “my second family” and that he called Mark “Uncle.” A “kinder or more supportive uncle you could not find,” he said. “We should all have a friend like that. And every boy should have an Uncle Mark.”

When Geoffrey Smith was dropped off at Fenn as a new student in the fall of 1960, he went up to the third floor of the Farm House to go to bed that evening. Soon, there could be heard “the wailing of eight homesick boys.”

After a minute or two, Geoffrey recalled, “Suddenly we heard a voice: ‘All right boys. Settle down. Time to go to sleep.

Big day tomorrow’.”

“It was like oil poured onto choppy waters,” Geoffrey said. “That was my introduction to Mark Biscoe and my first impression. You heard the love and authority in that voice. You knew he cared about you.”

Many of the speakers recalled Mark’s talent as a coach, his support for every one of his players, and the way he was completely present at every game.

“I was not an athlete,” said Geoffrey. He recalled the time that Mark “sent me into a game, saying ‘You can do it!’ and I real-

“My heart is less heavy because Mark’s spirit walks this campus.

I sense it every day: when a faculty member asks the boys to be their best selves, or when a veteran teacher takes a new teacher under his or her wing.” – Bob Starensier, Athletic Director

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ly tried because you wanted to give your all for Coach Biscoe. But I was terrible.”

The next morning during school meeting, Mark recapped the game, including in his review the words, “And Geoffrey Smith tried very hard.” For “a thirteen-year-old kid—to be told you had tried, well, it just meant the world to me,” said Geoffrey.

James Owens was “a wide-eyed eleven year old from Boston’s inner city” when he arrived at Fenn, “and one of the first people to welcome me was Mark. He and Jane made me feel at home and a part of their family.” Mark “taught us accountability and responsibility,” James said, employing discipline that was always dispensed with love.

“He was a mentor, coach, father figure, and true friend.”

David Cohen said Mark was extremely important to him and his family. David’s brother, Matt ’91, played for Mark, and David’s father, Barry, served as Mark’s volunteer assistant coach for a time. Mark “mentored me for more than thirty-five years,” David said, adding

that he remained a source of support and guidance long after David left Fenn.

During David’s ongoing position as head varsity basketball coach at ConcordCarlisle High School, “Mark would send me hundreds of emails after my games that were a treasure trove of wisdom, support, and love.”

Mark loved to win, but “competing intensely mattered only if it was done the right way, by never sacrificing or compromising your values,” David said.

“He taught us to respect each other, ourselves, our officials, and our opponents.”

Bob Starensier, who succeeded Mark as athletic director thirty-eight years ago, said he often asks himself, “What would Mark do?” Bob said that although he feels a profound sadness, “my heart is less heavy because Mark’s spirit walks this campus. I sense it every day: when a faculty member asks the boys to be their best selves, or when a veteran teacher takes a new teacher under his or her wing.”

Kathy Starensier was one of those new teachers back in 1983, when she

found Mark to be “generous and gracious with the boys and with his colleagues.” He was “unfailingly honest, always respectful, compassionate, and kind, and quietly brave. And he was a deeply devoted and loving husband.”

Matt Boger recalled a moment in sixth grade Latin class when a boy declared, “Fenn is not real life.” Mark paused, said Matt, and then replied, “You are right. But Fenn is the best of what could be and what you can create.”

Matt, former president of the Alumni Council, said he represented “thousands of alumni who have stories about how Mark Biscoe transformed them into the men they are today.”

Mark was made an honorary member of the Class of 1995; he was the only non-alumnus to serve on the Council, which he did devotedly until 2020.

On behalf of her family, Jane Biscoe offered loving thanks to all involved in the celebration, saying, “We send our immense gratitude to everyone who made the memorial celebration so unforgettable.”

“We send our immense gratitude to everyone who made the memorial celebration so unforgettable.” – Jane Biscoe, wife to Mark

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Alumni Honoring Mark Biscoe Last spring, a small group of alumni began to meet with Advancement Director Jill Miller to talk about ways that they could honor Mark. Members of that group included Alumni Council President Brian Davidson ’89, Alumni Council members Matt Boger ’89 and James Owens ’72, Paul Van Houten ’81, and Athletic Director Bob Starensier.

Out of those meetings grew several tributes to Mark, including the October 1, 2021 memorial celebration and the Mark W. Biscoe H’95 & Jane

E. Biscoe Scholarship Fund, which will impact students now and well into the future.

Several generous Fenn alumni offered challenges to help reach the original goal of $100,000 for the scholarship fund, then exceed it and strive for a new goal of $125,000. The final challenge ended with the inaugural Mark W. Biscoe H’95 Basketball Tournament on Saturday, February 5, where it was revealed that the fund had exceeded $140,000 in contributions.

At a ceremony during the tournament, two new varsity benches bearing the Biscoe name were unveiled, along with an imprinting of “Coach Biscoe” on the gym floor beside them. A stunning hand-carved plaque created by woodworker and former Fenn Wood Shop teacher and staff member Jon Schmalenberger also now hangs near the gym entrance in memory of Mark. It aptly reads: “Teacher, Coach, Advisor, Friend, and Inspiration to Countless Members of the Fenn Community.”

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Embodying Sua Sponte Alex Lynch ’66 Named 2021 Distinguished Alumnus ON THE MORNIN G OF OCTOBER 1,

Alex Lynch stood before a sea of faces at an outdoor All School Meeting

where he was welcomed as Fenn’s newest Distinguished Alumnus.

Head of School Derek Boonisar set the stage for the boys who were looking on curiously at the morning’s special guest, remarking on the many areas in which Alex thrived during his fifth through eighth grade years at Fenn. There was his stint serving in student government as Attorney General for his class, his campaigns for President, Vice President, and Senator, his excellence across three seasons of sports, and the unique honor of being named Best Dressed in a class poll his graduating year. He also was a proud member of the Gold team with older brother Russell “Vinnie” Lynch ’64, who would surprise him later that evening at a reunion celebration.

As Alex took the microphone to address the gathering, he reminisced not about the accolades that Derek had described, but about challenging moments that shaped him as a young boy. There was the moment when he slipped and fell as the anchor runner on a four-person relay team during Field Day, leading to Gold’s loss in the race. (Gold ultimately won the day, though, with a convincing final score of 257–211.)

There was the missed opportunity during a heated football game against Fessenden. Steve Kidder was the quarterback (who according to Alex only “threw perfect balls”), and Fenn was down by less than a touchdown in the fourth quarter. “Kidder threw a ball that came in over my shoulder, and it slipped right through my arms,” he remarked. “It was a long way back to the huddle.”

Similar feelings of disappointment arose when classmate Parker Montgomery received the Latin prize at graduation that Alex figured would be his after securing a perfect score in class that year.

“I was never the fastest or the

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most sure footed, I never had the most reliable hands, and I’m not even sure I was ever the smartest,” Alex remarked.

“But as I’ve reflected on my life, I’ve concluded that this school then, as it does now, gave me the tools to be the best version of myself.” Alex and brother Vinnie agree on the value of schools like Fenn that serve young boys during the most foundational years of development.

He continued: “These are the years when the mind, body, and heart are fashioned and molded, when character is formed, when worthy habits are modeled, and when Sua Sponte becomes a boy’s North Star.”

He left the boys that morning with two important life lessons inspired by a 2014 graduation speech from former Navy SEAL Admiral William H. McRaven and later McRaven’s New

York Times bestseller “Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World.”

“Do the small things in life (like making your bed), and you’ll be able to do the big things in life,” he urged.

“Secondly, remember that being a gentleman isn’t a part-time job. If you do the small things and get those right, and you’re a gentleman, have character, and practice respect, integrity, and kindness, you will have a wonderful life and make Fenn very proud of you.”

Later that evening, alumni and other guests came together on the Thomas “Fenn Men” Green in front of Ward Hall for a cocktail reception at which Derek Boonisar and Alumni Council President Brian Davidson ’89 bestowed the alumni award upon Alex.

He echoed the sentiments he had shared at All School Meeting in a brief speech to the crowd gathered under the brilliant moon, following emotion-filled remarks from his brother. A previous Distinguished Alumnus Award winner in 2012, Vinnie joked that Fenn had “clearly upgraded the award since I received it” before sharing his immense pride in his younger brother. “Alex is a living and walking epitome of Sua Sponte,” he proclaimed. “As his older brother, I don’t look sideways or down—I look up to him.”

Alex’s professional and personal accomplishments are certainly worthy of the brotherly praise. Currently

Chairman of Banking at Barclays Investment Bank, Alex focuses on developing relationships with Barclays’ clients within the financial institutions space and other industries. He previously served as a partner at White Deer Energy, a private equity group that invests in middle-market energy companies, and, for 15 years prior, excelled

as Global Chairman of J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank as well as Chairman of the North American Mergers and Acquisitions Group and Global Chairman of the Financial Institutions Group. Before joining J.P. Morgan, Alex was a general partner and member of the operating and investment committees at The Beacon Group, a private investment and strategic advisory firm.

He began his career at Lehman Brothers in 1976.

During his long career, Alex has served on a number of NYSE publicly-traded and privately-held corporate boards and on boards of numerous not-for-profit organizations and educational institutions. He is currently a member of the board of trustees of the Cancer Research Institute, where he has served since 2002. He also previously served as a trustee at St. Andrew’s School in Delaware and at Trinity College in Connecticut and as chair of the board of trustees at Greenwich Country Day School. After graduating from Fenn in 1966, Alex attended The Hotchkiss School before going on to University of Pennsylvania to receive a B.A. in economics in 1974 and an M.B.A. in 1976 from its Wharton School.

Congratulations to Alex for this award from his boyhood alma mater!

He will surely enjoy it with his wife of 42 years, his four children who each penned a note congratulating him on the award, and his nine grandchildren.

“I was never the fastest or the most sure footed, I never had the most reliable hands, and I’m not even sure I was ever the smartest. But as I’ve reflected on my life, I’ve concluded that this School then, as it does now, gave me the tools to be the best version of myself.” – Alex Lynch ’66 winter

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Class Notes 1951 Fred Lovejoy and Rusty Robb gave a reunion lunch on August 23, 2020, for the following classmates: Higginson, Miller, Piper, Rintels, and Whitney, followed by cocktails at Lovejoy’s. The group recognized the passing of Edwards, Johnston, and Sears in recent years. David Rintels, who won Fenn’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2016, flew up to Hanscom Field from his home in Martha’s Vineyard so his classmates could honor him for his play, Clarence Darrow.

1953 Dave Frothingham reports, “In April 2021, Patty and I moved from our home on Skidaway Island, GA, to The Marshes of Skidaway, which is a superb continuing care facility only about four miles from our previous home. We are now very happily settled in an amazing cottage overlooking the salt water marsh.”

wasn’t thrown passes, because in those days, helmets didn’t allow for glasses.

Fear, when Roger Fenn, as I drank from the stone fountain, yelled at me, ‘Recess is over! Get into class!’—his science class.

Not my best subject. Best wishes to all of you, those classmates still around, and those of you who have migrated to the next. I remember each one of you.”

John Hall reports, “All well here in Israel, dealing as best we can with COVID. Still busy scanning legacy earth science reports as libraries go digital. The city of Jerusalem is rebuilding at a fantastic rate, and the Motza Valley below us, inhabited for the past 9,000 years, is becoming the city’s major western interchange with a 2,200-mile long tunnel.” Jay Olmsted and his wife, Karen, moved to Burke, VA, in the spring of 2021.

1957 REUNION We’ll be celebrating our 65th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life.

Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

David White writes, “I am enjoying the best of both worlds between Waterstone of Wellesley, a retirement community, and maintaining my summer home in Marlboro, VT, for the warm weather months.

Though retired from working for the Marlboro Music Festival after more than a quarter century, I still visit the campus for concerts, rehearsals, and special events. After a year’s ‘sabbatical’ due to COVID in 2020, the concerts resumed this past summer and were welcomed by all. Warm greetings to all in the Fenn community.”

1960 We are sad to report that Baer Connard’s wife, Priscilla, passed away on December 7, 2021. Our condolences go out to Baer and his family.

1952 REUNION We’ll be celebrating our 70th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org.

Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

1962 REUNION We’ll be celebrating our 60th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org.

Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

1954 Bartley Calder offers some Fenn reminiscences for his classmates: “Still memories of joy and fear. Joy on the football field as an end who Bartley Calder ’54

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1965 Nathanael Slater sent a photo (below) along with the message, “Have apron, prep breakfast; it gets production going.”

You rock that Fenn apron, Nathanael!

He also reports, “Abc Dadb c.2009-2011, LOC c.2012, ISBN January 2020 Kindle and paper, hardback this month; pictorial nonfiction #1 of 7, ibid The Lantern 1965, Q.E.D. naturally historical description of art in work and love of life further beyond WWII’s Normandy beach landings, way following upon way showing how it can, interconnectedness even disarming terminal seriousness.”

1966 David Tew writes, “Thanks for dropping my news into the last alumni news column. I had no idea the school had grown so much, adding a ninth grade, new buildings, athletic facilities, etc., but of course I should have expected no less.

The issue’s focus on Mark Biscoe was fascinating. I had no idea that he’d been a dorm master during his earliest years.

When did boarding cease at Fenn, by the way? I think there were a very few board-

ers remaining when I started the fourth grade in 1962. [Editor’s note: In 1974, Fenn’s Board of Trustees voted to phase out the boarding program gradually.] We now live not too far from where Mark did in Maine, but we’d never connected.

One day I learned he was giving a talk about the maritime history of the area, a common interest. After the talk, I went up to ask him a question, and he recognized me. I was amazed. From seventh grade Latin in 1965!?! He even remembered that I stumped him in class one day with a question about a Latin palindrome. We spoke for a while, and I told him that his Latin class had been an enjoyable and instructive introduction to the structure of language. It had a significant effect on my future. I studied Latin and Greek throughout Brooks School and some at Harvard, where I went after Fenn. I subsequently married a Wellesley girl who was a Classics scholar. We’re still married forty-five years later, and our children have suffered her endless corrections to their grammar since. But they appreciate it!

Fenn’s focus on the Transcendentalist traditions of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne,

Eamon Hegarty ’04 and his son, Cormac

Nathanael Slater ’65 self portrait

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Illustration by Nathanael Slater ’65

and the Alcotts was significant also, since I lived on the other side of Walden Pond and would walk or ride my bike through Walden Woods and around the pond to school on sunny days. Their philosophies and writings were a wonderful way to be exposed to American literature and history. Many thanks!”

1967 REUNION We’ll be celebrating our 55th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life.

Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

1970 Alumni Class Senator Charlie Denault, cadenault@gmail.com

1971 Alumni Class Senator Jamie Jones, jbjones@seamanpaper.com

1972 REUNION Reunion Volunteers Brad Bailey, bailey13@comcast.net James Owens, jace58@comcast.net John Reichenbach, john@reichenbach.org

We’ll be celebrating our 50th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

1977 REUNION We’ll be celebrating our 45th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

1978 Alumni Class Senators David Brown, dhbrown333@gmail.com Bill Lawrence, lawrencewa@gmail.com

1979 Andrew Mockler provided an update on his family. His wife, Jennifer Marshall, is an artist and art teacher. Their older daughter, Sophia, plays violin with the Minnesota Orchestra, while their younger children are still in school. Lucas, following in his parents’ footsteps, is an artist, working on an M.F.A. in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. Oonagh, their youngest child, is a freshman at Barnard College, where she is forging her own path by studying science.

After receiving a B.F.A. degree in art from Cornell, Andrew went to Yale for his M.F.A. in painting and printmaking. He has been a printmaker for 25 years, and his press, Jungle Press Editions, is located in Brooklyn.

Andrew claims, “It all started with Jean Carter in the silk screening hut at Fenn!”

1971 classmates celebrate their reunion (l. to r.): Bob Curry, Jamie Jones, Tad Alles, Mike Spound, Kim Clark, John Sweney, Peter Nordblom, Tony Harris. Class photos also pictured above. winter

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1980 Alumni Class Senator Jon Cappetta, cappettajon@gmail.com

COME ONE, COME ALL – Reunion and Homecoming Weekend 2022!

1982 REUNION

Alumni, mark your calendars for September 30 and October 1 for Fenn’s Reunion and Homecoming festivities! All alumni are invited to help celebrate reunion classes ending in 2 and 7 on Friday evening and join in the family-friendly Homecoming Day on Saturday. If you would like to volunteer for your class as a reunion volunteer or class senator, please contact Alan O’Neill ’98, Director of Alumni Relations and Alumni Giving, at aoneill@fenn.org or (978) 318-3517.

Thank you!

Reunion Volunteer JK Nicholas, jknich66@gmail.com

We’ll be celebrating our 40th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life.

Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

On September 3, Paul Bellantoni posted on Facebook, “THE BIG REVEAL: Today a personal dream-come-true, over 40 years in the making, becomes official. I (well, my voice) join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If y’all go to see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings this weekend, the ‘effort’ (sound) of every punch thrown, kick, block, thrust, parry, jump, hit taken, power-up, earth shattering blow, even several breaths and one soul-rending scream that comes from Wenwu—a.k.a. the Mandarin (the hero’s father and the main villain)—is my voice. It was an incredible experience, truly once-in-a-lifetime, that has seemed unreal from start to finish. Being the one voice, alone, on the giant Disney soundstage was AMAZING! I cannot believe this is my life.” Congratulations, Paul! See our profile of Paul on p. 80.

1983 Alumni Class Senators Andy Majewski, amajewsk@hotmail.com Scott Van Houten, smvccc01@gmail.com

1984 Chip Dinsmore shipped out to Australia this past May. “I had to check all the boxes for them to grant me entry— COVID survivor, fully vaccinated, good health, two-week hotel quarantine.

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After approximately nine months of single-digit COVID infections in Australia, I was the lucky prize to break that streak, and we went into strict lockdown in early July....The COVID party never stops! At least I have beautiful weather in the Sydney winter, and I’m near a beach for daily swims and surfing. I’ll probably be in Australia through next January and then I’m off to Italy and the U.K. to launch our business there. I hope to get some time to travel around the country.” A.J. Sohn was thrilled to watch son Carter ’19 receive the Patriot365 Award from Concord-Carlisle High School varsity football coach, Josh Reed, after his junior year season this fall. The award recognizes players “who embrace and exhibit hard work, accountability, discipline, commitment, teamwork, and overcoming adversity with a positive attitude on and off the field.”

A.J. shares, “Seeing Carter receive this award was one of the proudest moments of my life. He has turned out to be the man I had hoped, and Fenn certainly played a very substantial role in his development.” (See photo on p.

87 in the 2019 class notes.)

1985 Jonathan Spooner and his wife, Leah Wichler, had a baby boy, Samuel Mason Moser Spooner, on April 21, 2021. Congratulations!

1987 REUNION We’ll be celebrating our 35th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life.

Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

1989 Alumni Class Senators Matt Boger, mattboger@yahoo.com Brian Davidson, bw_davidson@yahoo.com

1990 Alumni Class Senator Alex Zavorski, zavorski@gmail.com

Kevin Keegan earned a certificate in privacy law and cybersecurity in 2021 from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. Subsequently, he and a business partner whom he met at USC started a company called Daylight, which offers corporate digital responsibility (CDR) products and services to startups and other organizations.

Kevin and his wife, Nicole, live in Los Angeles, CA, with their son, Sawyer.

1992 REUNION Reunion Volunteer Ben Bing, benbing1@gmail.com

We’ll be celebrating our 30th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

Ben Bing is a fourth grade teacher in Woburn, MA. He has two sons, Alexander (7) and Eric (4). Eric Goddard is the captain of an oil tanker, “Overseas NY.” Chris Lane, who teaches at the University of Rhode Island, received a Fulbright Fellowship to spend six months at the University of ParisSaclay in France to conduct research on the evolution of parasitism in marine organisms.

1994 Alumni Class Senator Breman Thuraisingham, breman_t@yahoo.com

Rob Achtmeyer has been pivoting from classroom teaching to launching Mountain Made Adventures, an adventure travel company. He notes, “After completing the trans-New Hampshire Overland Adventure Route with some friends over the summer, I have been developing a trail for Maryland.” Alec Duncan is an oil and gas geologist with Occidental Petroleum, where he manages

a small team of geologists who target and drill wells in Colorado and Wyoming.

On the Fenn Connect platform, he wrote, “The 2020 pandemic and associated oil downturn allowed me the time to embark on my training as a personal and professional coach through the Coactive Training Institute. I started my own coaching practice on the side (www. slatecoaching.com) and now focus on helping people create and manage change in all areas of their work and personal lives. I have clients all over the country, so don’t hesitate to reach out!” Jonathan Rosen and his wife, Katy, spent a week in June sailing around Belize, which quickly became one of their favorite cruising destinations. In September, he and his team took first place out of more than 20 boats sailing in the Rolex Big Boat Series, J105 class. Jonathan works full time for Burning Man Project, where he heads up product management. After many years in San Francisco, CA, they just bought a house in San Rafael in Marin County. (See photo below.)

husband, Amos Wolff, welcomed daughter Vera Jenkinson Wolff to their family.

Vera was born on November 25, 2021, and weighed 7 lb. 6 oz.

1996

Alumni Class Senators

According to his brother Aaron ’02, Luke Colby finished manufacturing engine parts that will land on the Moon in 2022 as part of Astrobotic Technology’s Lunar Lander.

On Thanksgiving, John Jenkinson and his

Sam Takvorian, stakvorian@gmail.com

1997 REUNION Reunion Volunteer & Alumni Class Senator Nat Carr, ncarr@fenn.org

We’ll be celebrating our 25th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

1998 Alumni Class Senator Patrick Jones, patrick.jones.p@gmail.com

1999 Ryan Connolly, ryan.connolly@ms.com

Roger Hewer-Candee is now living in New York City and working as an attorney at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in their Asset Management Group.

2000 Alumni Class Senators George Carr, gcarr4@gmail.com Matt Ward, mward@fenn.org

Jon Rosen ’94 and his wife, Katy

In November 2020, George Carr and his wife, Molly, welcomed Oliver Carr, their second son, to the family. It’s been a productive six months for other members of the class of 2000, and they may want to call on George for parenting advice.

David Khuen ’01 passed along the exciting news that his brother Brad Khuen (who now goes by his first name, Charles) and his wife, Marielle, were delighted by the birth of their son, Hayden Avery Khuen,

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“Aughhh!” “Ooof!” “Yeow!”

Paul Bellantoni ’82 does voiceover work for the Marvel Universe He has voiced a singing elf in a Dungeons and Dragons game and made a Cowardly Lion Christmas ornament croon, and he’s played a French baking pan, a German scientist, and a doctor explaining the symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis.

After a successful career as an opera singer, he began to do voiceover work and once played an anthropomorphic superhero bunny dentist for a Colgate cartoon commercial, in which he rapped about the importance of good oral health. The shift from opera singer to animated bunny struck him as funny: “I could hardly stop gleefully giggling long enough to finish the session.”

Paul Bellantoni ’82 is an actor, singer, and voiceover (VO) artist whose deep, resonant voice has propelled him into work in documentaries, video games, national commercials, audiobooks, animation, corporate videos, films and movie trailers, and roles in dramas and musicals. His first TV gig was playing a kid hanging out in a college bar in the soap opera One Life to Live. He made his film debut in the animated crime thriller Ruben Brandt, Collector in 2018.

Paul has done VO work full-time for a decade. This type of acting is highly competitive and more demanding than most people think. “It’s equal parts art and craft. The most difficult part is learning how to make a living at it,” he says.

It’s nice to score an “awesome commercial gig” that calls for fifteen minutes in the studio, after which the actor is paid residuals for a year. But “more emotionally and artistically rewarding,” he notes, is narrating a novel, which requires the actor to play several roles and make every character distinct and believable.

In the Marvel universe, Paul voices Uatu, “The Watcher,” in the Marvel Super Wars video game, and recently he secured 80

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a voiceover role in the Marvel feature film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

He can be heard providing the “breaths and efforts”—sounds made in fight scenes and during other exertions—for the supervillain Wenwu/The Mandarin.

Using his stentorian voice and sometimes props such as swords or sticks to better suit the sound to the action, Paul dispensed and received punches and kicks with grunts, gasps, and other noises generated during fighting. Sometimes

his roles call for dialogue. Though doing evil voices is “a blast,” Paul is a “virulent pacifist” and will not do VO for games or films that feature extreme realistic violence, saying “That’s not something I want to put into the universe.”

Providing “efforts” for Shang-Chi was a “super cool” experience, Paul says. COVID tested and given a code name and UPC code to get into the lot at Disney Studios in Burbank, he did two rounds of auditions, won the part, and

“It’s equal parts art and craft. The most difficult part is learning how to make a living at it.”

didn’t know it was for a Marvel movie until shortly before the shoot. The job came with such perks as a prime parking spot in front of the soundstage and his own personal assistant.

Though he was a Marvel comic book fan in his Fenn days, Paul had no idea this kind of work would be his career path. He says that because his parents chose Fenn for him, “it’s their fault that I became an actor.” The sixth grader was drawn immediately to drama and music for more than one reason. As soon as he was old enough he tried out for the Fenn Nashoba musical “just to meet girls who weren’t my sisters!”

Paul’s favorite Fenn memories include being taught history by Jim Carter ’54 (“He was inspiring.”), music

by Heather Thomson, and French by Patsy Edes. Madame Edes, says Paul, led a Fenn/Nashoba trip to France, “which opened up the world outside my own” and launched his lifelong love affair with the city of Paris. Years later he attended Madame Edes’ funeral and when guests were allowed an opportunity to say a few words, Paul offered a Faure song, in French, “with poetry I thought she would appreciate.”

Paul continued to seek out acting and singing roles at Buckingham Browne & Nichols, where he was cast “in literally every show in every semester I was

there.” He earned a B.A. from New York University in journalism, with a major in public relations and a minor in music, and while there had an internship at Columbia Pictures and MGM. By the time Paul graduated from NYU, “I knew I wanted to be an actor.

Performing called to me.” He began auditioning for theatre roles and was cast in Equity Showcase productions, in “underfives” (under five lines) in soap operas, and in commercials. For his off-Broadway debut he played Mr. Earnshaw, the father, in a musical version of Wuthering Heights, “despite being younger than my two kids!” Trained as a stage actor, Paul has extensive theatre credits in contemporary roles and off-Broadway musicals and has performed as Macbeth and as Old Hamlet’s Ghost.

When he was told that his voice was “too big” for most contemporary musical theatre roles and that he might be better suited to opera, Paul switched gears, singing leading bass-baritone roles across the U.S. and in Europe. He made his solo debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. In 2008 he wrote a guidebook for American singers wanting to perform in Europe.

The seed for Paul’s acting and singing career was definitely “planted at Fenn,” he says. Fenn is responsible, too, for the deep and abiding friendship he forged with Norm Veenstra ’82, whom Paul calls “my brother by choice.” They have remained connected for nearly forty-five years.

Paul proposed to his wife, Patricia, in Paris. “It’s a terribly romantic story,” he says. Patricia is a user experience design manager for City National Bank and the couple shares their L.A. home with “a trio of fluffy feline dependents” and various cacti and fruit trees. When he’s not doing VO work, Paul reads voraciously,

particularly Sci-Fi, watches old silent-era cartoons and classic Hollywood movies, and delights in early radio and television personalities such as Burns and Allen.

Two Fenn experiences have remained with him for decades, Paul says, and both involve Mark Biscoe H’95. One early fall day in sixth grade Paul felt particularly low, realizing that although he had “breezed through” public elementary school, he was “not prepared for the level of study expected at Fenn.” He struggled “mightily,” mostly in Mark’s social studies class.

One early fall day in his first year at Fenn, Paul was sitting dejectedly under a tree outside Mark’s classroom when Mark came outside and sat next to him.

“He asked me what was wrong, and I poured forth all my frustration and confusion,” Paul recalls. Mark “listened until I was finished” and then assured him that he was clearly a capable student who would do fine.

“His firm but kind words turned me around,” says Paul. By the end of the semester, he had earned honors for effort and after that, he made the Honor Roll for the rest of his time at Fenn and then at BB&N. Another memorable Biscoe encounter occurred nearly two decades later, when Paul was performing with the Portland (Maine) Opera, in a rustic theatre outside of the city. After the show, Paul had changed out of his tux to head back to his hotel, when “who did I see standing there, beaming at me, but Mr. and Mrs. Biscoe.”

They had seen Paul’s name in the paper and attended the performance.

“I have never forgotten those two events, one which set me back on a course from which I would never again stray,” says Paul, “and the other touching me beyond words.”

— Contributed by Laurie O’Neill winter

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on July 17, 2021. Marielle’s maiden name is Hayden; we’re sure she was happy to share it! Peter Leopold and his wife, Maia, welcomed daughter Gemma Tamar Leopold to their family on September 2, 2021 (photo below). The month of September also brought the arrival of a second daughter for Vikram Rao and his wife, Deepthi Yeturu. Ichcha Rao, whose first name means “wish,” joins big sister, Ishta. Finally, Adam Bakow and his wife, Allison, celebrated the arrival of their son, Jacob Patrick Bakow, on December 19, 2021. He joins Baxter, the dog, in the Bakow family.

Peter Leopold’s daughter Gemma

Will Howerton ’02 hiking near Lake Tahoe with son Gabriel

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2001 Alumni Class Senator Jimmy Hall, jkhall4@gmail.com

2002 REUNION Reunion Volunteers Aaron Colby ’02, acolby86@gmail.com Harris Rosenheim ’02, hrosenheim@gmail.com

We’ll be celebrating our 20th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

Aaron Colby and his fiancée, Elyse, tied the knot on June 12, 2021 (photo below). They were lucky to be surrounded by family and friends for both the ceremony and reception on a beautiful day during lulls between COVID-19 waves and thunderstorms! In work-related news, one of Aaron’s start-up companies was finally acquired in a small private deal with Cook Biotech. With family trips, including a trans-Panama Canal cruise with Disney, and time spent in Hawaii, the Colby family feels truly blessed this year.

On December 22, Hugh Doyle and his wife,

Brittany, celebrated the first birthday of their daughter, Emilia. She was born just before Christmas in 2020, weighing 7 lbs. 15 oz., arriving home in time to join her brother, Hunter, for the holiday festivities. Billy Stone passed his NCLEX exam, which the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) administers to test the competency of nursing school graduates in the U.S. and Canada.

Jon Weigel has joined the faculty of the Haas School of Business at University of California Berkeley. He is an assistant professor in the school’s business and public policy group.

Jon writes, “It’s an island of political economy researchers in a business school. In my biased view, it has about the ideal mix of being a great university with an amazing location, so it’s a dream come true to be here.”

2003 Alumni Class Senators Jack Carroll, je.carroll10@gmail.com Bronson Kussin, bronson.kussin@gmail.com Christian Manchester, christian.d.manchester@gmail.com Mike Spiak, mtspiak@gmail.com

Christian Manchester is engaged to Audrey Coulter. They expect to get married in 2022, COVID permitting. Stephen McCarthy shared the exciting news that he is engaged to Ekaterina Shoman. They’ll be married in

Aaron Colby ’02 and Elyse Freniere at their June 2021 wedding

SUPPORT THE ANNUAL FUND TODAY! The Annual Fund at Fenn supports every aspect of the School. Each year, Fenn relies on the generosity of the community to raise more than $1.3M for the Annual Fund, and every gift has the power to directly impact the School’s people, programs, and traditions.

Will you make a gift today in support of Fenn?

• Mail a gift to 516 Monument Street, Concord, MA 01742; • Go online at Fenn.org/annualfund; or • Scan the QR code to give.

Questions?

Contact Jess Adani, Director of Annual Fund and Leadership Giving, at jadani@fenn.org or 978-318-3526.

Paris on September 5, 2022. Congratulations, Christian and Stephen! Ryan Melia released “Years Ahead,” an album of songs he wrote and recorded at home this past year during the COVID pandemic. The album is available on Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, Bandcamp, etc.

Ryan wrote on Facebook, “Hope you enjoy them and that they bring some warmth and calm in these snowy, rainy days.” Charlie Wolff and his wife, Ashley, celebrated the holiday season with the birth of Christopher James Wolff on December 21, 2021.

Krish Jaiman is currently attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education, studying educational leadership. He’s also working with the city of Somerville in their Racial and Social Justice Department, helping develop their “Reimagining Policing” initiative. John McBride and his wife, Niki Nikatos, celebrated the birth of Evanthia “Evi” McBride Nikitos on August 28, 2021. She weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 inches long.

2006 Alumni Class Senators

2004 Freemon Romero and his wife, Stacy, welcomed their first child on May 29, 2021.

Son Calix Carlos Romero was born at 5:28 a.m., weighing 8 lb. 3 oz. and measuring 20.25 inches long. Fenn’s Gold team will be cheering on this future member!

2005 Alumni Class Senators Spencer Lovejoy, slovejoy424@gmail.com Will Stone, william.l.stone12@gmail.com Pete Valhouli-Farb, pvalhoulifarb@gmail.com

serves as the school’s summer camp director.

His new work address is: Roycemore School, 1200 Davis Street, Evanston, IL 60201. Jeff Trotsky has given up his construction career for the moment and has gone back to the field of education. He is teaching seventh grade science at Salem Academy Charter School, a co-ed school of 400 students, grades 6-12, serving the diverse student population of Salem, MA, and the surrounding communities.

Tyler Davis, davist.boston@gmail.com Luke Eddy, luke.a.eddy@gmail.com

In December 2020, Colin Beckwitt completed the Step 3 exam in the medical licensure process. Belated congratulations, Colin!

2020 was also a big year for other members of the class of 2006. JB Henderson moved from Boston to Raleigh, NC, in November 2020. Six months later, he married Sarah Robertson on May 7, 2021, in her hometown of Paducah, KY, surrounded by family and their five best friends. Both Long joined the Roycemore School in Evanston, IL, in March 2020. He is the Athletic Director, teaches physical education and Spanish, and also

2007 REUNION Reunion Volunteer & Alumni Class Senator Will Joumas, wbjoumas@gmail.com

We’ll be celebrating our 15th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

Kyle Bojanowski married Kate Kiernan in July 2021.

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2010 Alumni Class Senators Drew Coash, drewtcoash@gmail.com Will Crowley, crowleywi@gmail.com Gabe Lekorenos-Arnold, gabelekorenos@gmail.com

Chris Giles, Gabe Arnold, and Graham Hunt have all moved in together in NYC. If you are in the Chelsea neighborhood, give them a shout!

2011 Alumni Class Senator Nate Sintros, nathaniel1756@gmail.com

Winston Pingeon ’08, former member of the U.S. Capitol Police

2008

2009

Hot Rod Charlie, the thoroughbred race horse in which Dan Giovacchini and four Brown University classmates own a share, finished second in the 2021 Kentucky Derby and ran a close second in the Belmont Stakes five weeks later. All of Fenn was cheering for Charlie! James Pingeon, who graduated from the University of Vermont in 2019 with a degree in economics, is back in the Boston area, working as an assistant estimator for Knollmeyer Building Corp. After being brutally attacked on January 6, 2021, defending the U.S. Capitol with his riot squad, Winston Pingeon has left the Capitol Police after more than five years of dedicated service to Congress and our country. He has since been interviewed for a variety of press publications, including ABC News, where he discussed his passion of watercolor painting as a form of healing from the trauma, and for HBO’s documentary Four Hours at the Capitol. An artist since his time at Fenn, Winston continues to paint watercolors, many inspired by his time on Capitol Hill and the January 6th insurrection. Chris Rutledge made his acting debut playing Tim from Whole Foods in a new movie by Joel Haver called Drowning in Potential, which is about two actors trying to make it in L.A. Check out Chris’ segment starting at minute 56:00 on YouTube at www. youtube.com/watch?v=17GcrgNXygE.

Alumni Class Senators

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Sam Doran, saminthenewsroom@gmail.com Thacher Hoch, thachmo94@comcast.net

Nick Church was accepted to Boston College’s Carroll School of Management last year. He started the M.B.A. program in January 2021 and will be completing his coursework on a part-time basis while he continues to work full-time on the financial planning and analysis team at American Tower. Thomas Cowan is pursuing his M.B.A at Harvard Business School, as well as a master’s degree in public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He started his programs in the fall of 2020 and expects to graduate in 2023. Sven Lerner married his Phillips Academy classmate, Abby Chung, this past summer on Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire. Christian Wesselhoeft served as best man. Sven received his M.S. in computational and mathematical engineering from Stanford University in 2021 and is continuing his studies there for his Ph.D. in the same field. Tim Morrill became engaged to Delphine “Delly” Garneau on January 22, 2021, while in the Virgin Islands. A September 2022 wedding on Nantucket is planned.

Hunter Moskowitz is engaged to Zoe Kamil.

Jackson Price started his new job as budget analyst and participatory budget coordinator at Cambridge City Hall on April 5, 2021.

2012 REUNION Reunion Volunteer Jordan Swett, jordan.d.swett@gmail.com

We’ll be celebrating our 10th reunion this fall, on Friday, September 30, 2022. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn.org/classnotes.

Jon Tesoro graduated from Holy Cross in the spring of 2020 with a B.A. in accounting. In November 2021, he left RSM, an audit, tax, and consulting firm, to join Deloitte as an audit and assurance senior associate.

2013 Thomas Gross graduated from Northeastern University last spring with a bachelor’s degree in finance and data science. In July, he joined Blue Star Capital as an analyst. Also in July 2021, Nick Walters completed his master’s degree in music at the University of Cambridge, where he has just begun work on his Ph.D., researching church music of the early

Tudor period. Cole Winstanley received a dual M.S./B.S. degree from Stanford University in May 2020. His undergraduate major was in symbolic systems/artificial intelligence, while his graduate degree was in electrical engineering.

2014 Alumni Class Senator Chad Arle, chad.w.arle@gmail.com

Garren LaPlante graduated from Elon University in May 2021. He’s staying in North Carolina, where he’s enrolled in massage therapy school in Raleigh. Garren hopes to do therapy in a sports program or training crew for college—or perhaps even the pros. Justin Robb served as co-captain of the Eckerd College rugby team this past fall, and based on the photographs grandfather Russ Robb ’51 shared, he plays hard! See photo below.

Justin graduated in December 2021 at the completion of the fall term.

2015 Alumni Class Senators Walker Davey, daveywa@bc.edu Ben Zide, benjaminzide@gmail.com

Hayden Galusza and Fenn schoolmate Max Ewing ’17 rowed together for Wesleyan University in the Men’s Collegiate Eights at the 2021 Head of the Charles this past October. Hayden is team captain this year and was elected to the First Team, IRCA All American for 2021. See photo at right.

2016 Alumni Class Senators William Locke, wlocke2000@comcast.net Tad Scheibe, scheibetm@gmail.com

Callan Fries entered Wesleyan University in the fall of 2020 and has been a member of their varsity football team for two years.

Wesleyan crew teammates Hayden Galusza ’15 and Max Ewing ’17

Justin Robb ’14, captain of Eckerd College’s rugby team winter

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2017 REUNION Alumni Class Senator Nico Bowden, nicobowden@gmail.com

We’ll be celebrating our 5th reunion this year. If you would like to serve on our Reunion Committee, please contact Alan O’Neill at aoneill@fenn.org. Don’t wait until then to update us on what’s new in your life. Email your news to alumni@ fenn.org or enter it online at www.fenn. org/classnotes.

Nico Bowden graduated from Groton School and started his freshman year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this past fall. Charles Brookby is in his second year at Southern Methodist University, where he is studying economics.

Jasper Chartener graduated from the Cambridge School of Weston last spring and is doing a gap year, with plans to travel to Costa Rica and to do some farming in Italy. He’ll enter Clark University in Worcester in the fall of 2022. Max Ewing and Fenn schoolmate Hayden Galusza rowed together for Wesleyan University in the Men’s Collegiate Eights at the 2021 Head of the Charles this past October. See photo on p. 85. Jack Folz is attending Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. In 2020-2021, Ian Moore played hockey for the U.S. Hockey League’s Chicago Steel, which earned its second Clark Cup championship in May 2021. Ian recorded 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in 45 games with a plus-22 rating. He’s now a freshman at Harvard,

along with three of his Steel teammates, playing right defenseman for the varsity men’s hockey team. William Parker graduated from Concord-Carlisle High School in May 2020 and matriculated at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. John Stewart entered Quinnipiac University last fall after graduating from Acton-Boxborough High School in June 2021.

2018 Alumni Class Senators Sammy Agrawal, samart.agr@gmail.com Sam Remondi, slremondi@gmail.com

Merlin Feist graduated from The Bromfield School and worked at Talise, a restaurant in

Owen Heaton ’17 celebrates earning his pilot’s license

Fenn alumni football brothers celebrated on the gridiron after a thrilling Middlesex School 19-13 overtime victory over St. George’s on November 13, 2021 to end the season. Pictured l. to r. are AliJah Clark ’19, Cam Fries ’18, Eoin Morrissey ’18, Max Toomey ’18, Nate Crozier ’18, and Malcolm Clark ’20.

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Gloucester, all summer. He was planning to start a Wilderness EMT course this past fall.

Ben LaPlante has followed in brother Garren’s footsteps and is attending Elon University.

2019 Alumni Class Senators Adam Ewing, adamrewing@comcast.net Noah Lippa, njlippa@gmail.com Ishan Narra, ishannarra@yahoo.com Surya Rajamani, suryabrajamani@gmail.com

Nick Raciti reports, “After spending almost my entire life in Massachusetts, I recently moved to Franklin, Tennessee.

While transferring schools my senior year has been challenging, it has also been immensely rewarding. Living in a more rural area has taught me about a new way of life, a different culture, and very different perspectives. Fenn’s education helped me develop the fundamental skills of hard work, discipline, and curiosity, all of which have helped me transition to a new state and enjoy every moment of it. For that alone, I am sincerely grateful.” Carter Sohn received the prestigious Patriot365 Award from head coach of Concord-Car-

Carter Sohn ’19 receives Patriot365 Award at CCHS

lisle High School varsity football, Josh Reed, after his junior year season. The award recognizes players “who embrace and exhibit hard work, accountability, discipline, commitment, teamwork, and overcoming adversity with a positive attitude on and off the field.” Congratulations to Carter for this phenomenal achievement! (See photo below and read words of fatherly pride from Carter’s Dad A.J. Sohn in class notes for 1984.) Stuart Strong is in his junior year at Minuteman Tech in their carpentry program. He also works a co-op job with Concord Carpenter. He writes, “I have Mr. Potsaid to thank for inspiring me on this path!” Noah Wells earned his pilot’s license in April 2021.

2020

football team that defeated Tilton School by a tight score of 21-20 to win the New England Prep School Athletic Council Ken Hollingsworth Bowl game on Friday, November 19, 2021. See photo below.

2021 Alumni Class Senators Ryan Bettenhauser, rbettenhauser@icloud.com Jack Doherty, Jackpdoherty17@gmail.com Panha Sam, prksam33@gmai.com

See Class of 2020 note to read about the successes of Jimmy Carlin and fellow Fenn football alumnus Jake Athanasoulas ’20 as members of the St. George’s varsity football team.

Alumni Class Senator

2022

Theo Randall, theorandall118@gmail.com

Alumni Class Senator

Jake Athanasoulas and fellow Fenn football alumnus Jimmy Carlin ’21 were members of the scrappy St. George’s varsity

Timmy Smith, timothymsmith108@gmail.com Luke Waldeck, lukewaldeck@fenn.org

Jimmy Carlin ’21 and Jake Athanasoulas ’20 (l. to r.) celebrate a St. George’s victory in the New England Prep School Athletic Council Ken Hollingsworth Bowl on November 19, 2021 winter

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in memoriam

We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the families of these Fenn graduates, former trustees and faculty members, relatives, and friends.

John S. Alexanderson May 14, 2021 Father of Scott Alexanderson ’80

Peter B. Keyes Fenn Faculty 1960-1971 April 3, 2020

Robert R. Borden III ’57 October 13, 2020

William A. Lawrence II June 16, 2021 Father of Bill Lawrence ’77 and Ned Lawrence ’81

Jonathan F. Bourne ’54 October 2, 2020 Earl F. Bracker June 22, 2021 Father of Will Bracker ’79 James M. Carlisle, Jr. Fenn English Teacher 1968-1991 September 2021 Nathaniel B. Clapp ’60 November 29, 2020 James R. Clarke III ’48 October 17, 2021 Gertrude F. Cutler October 22, 2021 Mother of Mike Cutler ’68 and Andy Cutler ’70 Kirk Czelewicz Fenn Staff 2019-2021 November 21, 2021 Sally Swift Fay May 14, 2021 Mother of Steve Fay ’79 Stephen R. Graubard May 27, 2021 Stepfather of William Georgiades ’82 and David Georgiades ’84 Cosmo A. Gilberti III July 26, 2021 Father of Anthony Gilberti ’96 John H. Hollis, Jr. ’43 July 12, 2021 Amory Houghton, Jr. March 4, 2020 Father of Mory Houghton ’65

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John D. Lynch ’42 November 30, 2020

Kenneth R. Sao ’10 May 23, 2021 John A. Sargent ’59 October 8, 2021 Brother of Win Sargent ’56 Robert Walker Scott, Jr. ’59 September 18, 2019

Ralph J. Maffei March 3, 2021 Father of John Maffei ’85

Diana F. Seamans Fenn Faculty 1952-1975 May 19, 2021 Mother of Dick Seamans ’59 Grandmother of Jamie Seamans ’88

David K. McKown June 4, 2021 Father of Andy McKown ’85

Lois M. H. Surgenor December 19, 2021 Mother of Steve Surgenor ’80

Raymond F. Miller, Jr. Fenn Trustee 1975-1981 October 18, 2021 Father of Chris Miller ’78 and Jono Miller ’83

Owen S. Surman November 10, 2021 Father of Craig Surman ’87

Elliott R. Morss ’52 September 16, 2021 Sarah Bankson Newton Fenn Trustee 2007-2010 May 2, 2021 Mother of Chase Newton ’11 Colin J. O’Rourke ’02 October 11, 2021 Brother of Devin O’Rourke ’04 and Angus O’Rourke ’11 Catherine G. Robbins July 5, 2021 Mother of Thomas Robbins ’05 Larry S. Rosen February 14, 2021 Father of Mark Rosen ’92 Thomas A. Rosse Former Fenn Trustee 2000-2004 January 31, 2021 Father of Jonathan Rosse ’03 Grandfather of Evan Rosse ’03 and Kyle Rosse ’05

Mark T. Thomas Fenn Trustee 2004-2013 June 21, 2021 Father of Matt Thomas ’09 and Chris Thomas ’12 H. Malcolm Ticknor December 26, 2021 Father of Malcolm Ticknor ’75 Husband of former Fenn teacher Susan Getsinger-Ticknor

Spring is a Time of New Beginnings.

Spring is the perfect time to review your estate plans and make sure they support the things that matter most to you.

As you update beneficiaries or adjust designations, consider naming The Fenn School as a beneficiary in your will, trust, life insurance policy, IRA, or other retirement vehicle. When you make a planned gift to Fenn, you not only achieve your charitable goals, but also have the potential to give more than you thought you could.

If supporting The Fenn School in this way is important to you, we invite you to visit www.fenn.org/lanternsociety for more information or contact Jill Miller, Director of Advancement, at 978-318-3520 or jmiller@fenn.org to explore your options or share your intentions. We would be delighted to welcome you into The Lantern Society!

The Lantern Society was established in 2000 to honor all those who have taken the special step of including The Fenn School in their long-term plans through a bequest provision in their will or trust, a life-income gift, or other estate-related giving arrangement.

Trip Smith ’05, youngest member of The Lantern Society “I can’t think of a better way at this time in my life to be able to give back to a school that gave me so much. I had a wonderful experience at Fenn, and I know that I benefitted from the generosity of those who came before me. It’s now my turn to pay it forward to the next generation of Fenn students, to make sure they have an experience as enriching as mine.”

Fred Lovejoy ’51, P’95, an early member of The Lantern Society “At the end of the day, to be of service is a responsibility and an honor. For every one of us, it is in each of our hands. To assure that the School continues to thrive and grow is a tremendous privilege.”

The Fenn School 516 Monument Street Concord, Massachusetts 01742-1894

Parents of Alumni If this publication is addressed to your son, and he no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the alumni office of his new mailing address (978-318-3525 or aboudreau@fenn.org).

Thank you!