Foote Prints Winter/Spring 2014

Foote Prints THE FOOTE SCHOOL • NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT • WINTER/SPRING 2014 • VOL. 41, NO. 1

The Importance of

CHARACTER

Foote Prints Contents Spotlight 2

WINTER/SPRING 2014 Vol. 41, No. 1

From the Head of School: Character Education at Foote

by Carol Maoz

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The Importance of Character

Foote Prints is published twice a year for alumni, parents, grandparents and friends.

Editor Andy Bromage Class Notes Editor Danielle Plante

Around Campus Grandparents Day 2013

Design Thea A. Moritz

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This Year’s Yali Visit

Photography Judy Sirota Rosenthal, Stephanie Anestis

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A New Club for Math Enrichment

For the latest in news and events visit us at www.footeschool.org

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Community Service

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Foote Theater

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Ninth Graders on Diversity and Student Leadership

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Fall and Winter Sports

Board of Directors Richard Bershtein, President Kim Bohen Judith Chevalier, Treasurer Constance ‘Cecie’ Clement ’62 Jaime Cole, PTC Co-President James Farnam ’65 Christina Herrick, PTC Co-President George Knight Nadine Koobatian J. Richard Lee, Vice President Cindy Leffell, Vice President Glenn Levin, Secretary Bruce Mandell Jennifer Milikowsky ’02 Stephen Murphy Zehra Patwa, Vice President Kathy Priest Robert Sandine Jane Shipp David Soper Annie Wareck ’85 Kiran Zaman

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Alumni 20

Alumni Achievement Award: Ted Crosby ’59

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Reunion Day 2014 Preview

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Legacies at Foote

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Class of 2010: Where Are They Now?

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Class Notes

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Young Alums Return to Campus

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Why I Wanted to Lead a New Child-Care Center

by Allyx Schiavone ’85

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Ex-Officio Carol Maoz, Head of School Cover: Character education permeates every aspect of the Foote experience. Pictured: Science teacher Tim Blauvelt with, from left, seventh graders Ian Mentz, Daisy Brownfield and Anya Wareck.

The Foote School does not discriminate in the administration of its admissions or educational policies or other schooladministered programs, and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or non-job-related physical disability.

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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Character Education at Foote

Head of School Carol Maoz with her fourth grade reading group

T

he elementary and middle school years are a wonderful and formative time. Children not only discover fascinating things about the world around them, they also find themselves — their passions, their value systems, their beliefs about right and wrong. One of the great joys of being an educator is participating in that journey of self-discovery and celebrating the milestones with children along the way.

At Foote, we pride ourselves on our strong academic program. Beginning in Kindergarten and continuing through Grade 9, students are engaged in a multifaceted, hands-on education that sets them on a lifelong path of learning. Equally as important is guiding students to become caring citizens and human beings who will strive to create 2

a better world. We call this character education, and this issue of Foote Prints highlights the many forms it takes here at Foote and the ways that it shapes our special school community.

Character education is not a new concept — Plato and Aristotle believed the primary purpose of education was to train virtuous citizens — nor is it new to Foote. From our founding in an East Rock carriage house in 1916, the philosophy set forth by Martha Babcock Foote emphasized personal ethics, service and citizenship alongside academic achievement. We continue to believe in the importance of those values. The first sentence of our guiding philosophy states that “a positive learning environment takes shape when students, parents and teachers know and respect one another, and

work together to uphold the values and expectations of the community.”

In fact, recent research has shown that character education and academic achievement go hand-in-hand. Earlier this year, Annie Murphy Paul, a Foote parent and the author of a forthcoming book on how people learn, gave a fascinating talk to our Education Committee. What neuroscience and psychological research are now finding, Annie noted, is that a child’s intelligence can be “evoked” by fostering a culture of respect and acceptance.

Students who feel a sense of belonging are more likely to take risks and to learn from mistakes they make.

The last two decades have seen a renewed focus on teaching core values Foote Prints

in schools, and an array of prepackaged character education programs available for schools to purchase. At Foote, any character program has to be homegrown and aligned with — and tailored to — the unique culture of our school.

Two years ago, we developed Falco’s PRIDE as a common language for the values we hold as a school community: Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Dependability and Excellence. Named for the school’s falcon mascot, Falco’s PRIDE serves as a foundation for school-wide conversations and activities about community expectations. Ninth graders kick off the school year with an opening assembly skit that reinforces the concept for our younger students.

To me, the beauty of Falco’s PRIDE is the shared vocabulary it has given us.

Students take pride in themselves and in our school. Visitors to our campus take note of the ways in which students support one another and kindness pervades the classroom. And when children make mistakes, we can talk to them in language they understand.

Students also encounter these values in the books they read and the historical figures they study. Recently, I was leading a reading group of fourth graders and asked students to choose a character from the book and a value of Falco’s PRIDE, and write about the ways in which that character did or did not embody that value. The results were amazing: Every student wrote about perseverance, dependability and other qualities of Falco’s PRIDE with clarity and insight. The children had internalized these concepts and understood what each meant.

You can find examples of character education everywhere at Foote.

Teachers develop lessons and activities that encourage students to play well together and to develop skills of respect, openness and empathy.

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Visitors to campus see students supporting one another and kindness pervading the classroom.

Kindergarteners can be found working out disputes at the “peace table.”

The school counselor works with younger children to explore how they fill one another’s “emotional buckets,” and the North Star program empowers fifth graders entering the teen years by giving them strategies to build self-confidence and positive selfimage. Older students benefit from advisor group activities about friendship and peer dynamics. Sixth graders volunteer serving lunch every Monday at a Hamden soup kitchen. The Buddy Program provides mentorship for younger students by pairing them with older ones to share lunches, reading time and outdoor games. And intramural and after-school sports teach students about teamwork, dedication and good sportsmanship.

The Connecticut Association of Independent Schools affirmed our commitment to character education during the 2012 re-accreditation process when it commended Foote for our “tolerant and respectful” student body.

“Throughout the grades,” the CAIS visiting team observed in its report, “students learn about stereotypes, social justice, personal identity, mutual respect, integrity, freedom, individual differences, and acceptance.”

As educators, we know that our own learning is never done. We must live out the first part of our school’s motto — “Gladly will I learn, and gladly teach” — by seeking opportunities to become better guides for children who are navigating the wonders and challenges of childhood and early adolescence. Last November, the Foote faculty and staff held a professional development day focused on diversity and tolerance. Our special guest was Rosetta Lee, a diversity training

specialist and sixth grade math teacher from Seattle Girls School. Rosetta led a morning workshop on the difficult conversations that can arise in classrooms around race, gender and socioeconomic status, and an afternoon session focused on the unique social pressures faced by adolescent girls. She shared practical strategies for the sensitive conversations that allow children to reflect on their behavior without feeling embarrassed or ashamed.

Students too are delving into these topics. In December, six ninth graders participated in the Student Diversity Leadership Conference outside Washington, D.C. It was the first time Foote sent students to the annual conference, and as you’ll read in these pages, each said the experience changed his or her life. A few weeks later, we invited the student delegates to discuss their experiences during an all-school faculty meeting. Each student spoke candidly and articulately about the assumptions and biases they brought to the conference, and the mind-opening lessons about race, gender and sexual orientation that they brought home. To say I felt proud of these students is a vast understatement.

We are so proud of all of our students for the character and courage they display every day — in the classroom, on the sports field and in their lives.

It’s part of what has made Foote exceptional for nearly 100 years, and a value to protect and sustain for the next century and beyond.

Carol Maoz Head of School 3

SPOTLIGHT

The Importance of

CHARAC T

im Blauvelt’s classroom is a laboratory for imaginative science experiments, crammed with test tubes, Coca Cola bottles, batteries and power tools. A huge garage door opens onto the deck of the Jonathan Milikowsky Science and Technology Building, where Tim and his students famously blast homemade rockets over the recess field.

But it’s a big sign on the wall that first catches one’s eye upon entering Tim’s classroom — and it has nothing to do with science. Printed in big black letters is a quotation from the writer Henry James that reads, “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind.

The third is to be kind.”

The message is a prominent reminder of one of Foote’s most important goals: 4

to help shape children into moral and caring individuals. From Kindergarten through Grade 9, the teaching of good character is stitched like a ribbon into every fiber of the Foote experience. In classrooms, in advisee groups, on the sports fields, in activity clubs and in the community, Foote students take part in shared learning experiences that support their social and emotional development.

While many schools have adopted offthe-shelf character education programs, Foote’s has grown up organically. In the Lower School, it is seamlessly integrated into daily learning. Walk into any Kindergarten or Mixed Age Group classroom and you’ll find teachers helping students negotiate disputes with peers and navigate their own emotions. You’ll see teachers squatting, eye-to-eye with children, listening

intently and treating each of their questions with seriousness and respect — in effect, modeling good character.

In her classroom, MAG teacher Cara Hames has created a colorful “feelings thermometer” that hangs on the wall by the door. Each student has a clothespin with his or her name, which they can move up and down the thermometer to match their emotions — from “discouraged,” “bored” or “silly” to “joyful,” “excited” and “happy.” Nearby is a small table that Cara calls the “peace place” where children can go to write or draw when they feel overwhelmed. The common theme: making children feel safe and understood.

“If you’re in a place where you’re feeling safe and comfortable, you’re more apt to take risks — raising your hand Foote Prints

TER “If you’re in a place where you’re feeling safe and comfortable, you’re more apt to take risks. That’s when we do our best learning.” when a question is asked,” Cara says.

“That’s when we do our best learning — when we stretch ourselves.”

in the dirt outside their classroom — pledging not to use those words during the school year.

At the start of each school year, third graders arrive to find a “welcome bag” full of goodies, each symbolizing an important character value: a stick of gum (always stick together), a roll of multi-colored Smarties (everyone is smart in a different way), an eraser (it’s OK to make mistakes) and a ball (when things don’t go your way, bounce back.) Later in the fall, third graders make a list of “ugly words” such as “stupid” or “I quit” and write them on a big chart on the wall.

When they’re done, they rip up the paper into tiny pieces and bury them

Two years ago, a group of Foote School faculty, staff and administrators created the Falco’s PRIDE initiative to serve as a common language for talking about the school’s core values. Named for the school’s falcon mascot, PRIDE stands for Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Dependability and Excellence. Colorful posters featuring those words and a cartoon falcon are visible around campus, and Falco’s PRIDE serves as a touch point for countless conversations about goals and expectations. Even the youngest students grasp the words’ meaning, says Head of Lower School

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Sixth graders volunteer serving lunch every Monday at St. Ann’s Soup Kitchen in Hamden. From left, Sammy Hendon-Dahl, Emilia Aniskovich and Cody McCarns

Beth Mello. “If you go and ask a second grader what perseverance means, they’ll say ‘to try really hard,’” Beth says.

“Perseverance is an extremely helpful concept,” adds fifth grade teacher Jim Adams. “I tell my class, ‘We’re doing this because it’s difficult. Show me what you can do. If you need help, I’ll give you help. But I want you to persevere.’”

Foote students and teachers are supported by a full-time school counselor, Veena Raghuvir, who visits classrooms and meets with students one-on-one.

Veena keeps a trove of books in her inviting office, off the fifth grade 5

SPOTLIGHT

connect sports with the real world: If you have a conflict, you don’t just blow up.“ To that end, Brad stresses personal growth over winning.

“Obviously, everyone loves to win but we want the kids to build a solid foundation in the sport and hopefully develop an interest in it.”

Mixed Age Group students learning about Falco’s PRIDE with the help of Foote’s mascot

hallway, which she uses to get children thinking about how they treat one another, and how they want to be treated. She also uses group activities like the “friendship pizza” — in which third graders make a brown-paper pizza with qualities of a good friend, such as kindness, as the toppings. The activities reinforce concepts like loyalty and sticking up for someone. “It’s all about learning about yourself and how

you make an impact on your community,” Veena says.

Sports play a big role in developing character, too. In the gym and on the sports field, Athletic Director Brad McGuire coaches young athletes to be respectful and accountable.

“Sportsmanship is a tough thing for some kids to get — they get so fired up in the moment,” Brad says. “We try

Eighth grader Jackson Haile congratulates a competitor after a race.

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Students in the Middle School encounter examples of good and bad character throughout the curriculum, especially in their studies of literature and history. To Kill a Mockingbird, a staple of seventh grade, introduces students to Atticus Finch, a character of great integrity, while Lord of the Flies presents characters driven to cruelty by their circumstances. History students learn what made Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. extraordinary and virtuous leaders.

Seventh graders also complete a heroes project that combines a research paper about someone who exhibits heroism with a portrait they create in Karla Matheny’s art class.

“It’s fascinating to hear the kids talk about their heroes and the qualities they especially admire and aspire to,” says Karla.

After-school activity clubs like Amnesty International, Environmental Action Group and Model Congress

to Eighth graders recite Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘I Have a

Dream’ speech at an all-school assembly. From left, Liza Diffley and Victoria Fletcher

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“It’s all about learning about yourself and how you make an impact on your community.” allow students to be a part of solving global problems by working together.

A newer club, F-STAND (Foote Students Against Negativity and Discrimination), works to spread the message of the importance of being kind and inclusive, and treating others with respect, by holding events and presentations throughout the year.

“We want to empower young people to develop their muscles to say, ‘I care about something. I have the talents to do something. How can I make a difference?’” says Assistant Head of Middle School Liam Considine.

Likewise, Foote’s community service program takes learning outside the classroom to help members of the Greater New Haven community who are in need. This year, the sixth grade spearheaded a Thanksgiving food drive that collected more than 1,100 canned goods for St. Ann’s Soup Kitchen in Hamden. For Valentine’s Day, MAG students donated 207 restaurant gift cards to Columbus House in New Haven, so homeless guests can get warm and get a bite when the shelter is closed.

Volunteering has impacted generations of Foote students, many of whom have gone on to careers in service of others (See alumni profiles beginning on page 20).

“We are creating human beings as much as kids who know stuff,” says Head of Middle School John Turner.

“There’s no written exam for character, but people face these exams on a daily basis — when you find $10 on the playground, or a waiter undercharges you for a meal. At the end of the day, who you are is more important than what you achieve.”

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Kindergarten teacher Jess McNell with, from left, Emilia Adams, Alaysia Kittrell and Marlena Maleska

The Buddy Program pairs up Lower School and Middle School students for mentorship, lunches and friendship activities. From left, third grader Kwasi Adae and seventh grade buddy Ian Mentz

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AROUND CAMPUS

Grandparents Day 2013 Alice and Ed Deak with grandson Pablo deVos-Deak, Grade 6

Grandparents and special friends came from far and wide to take part in Grandparents Day in October. As Head of School Carol Maoz noted during her welcome to visitors in the Hosley Gymnasium, among the 435 guests were visitors from Hawaii, Oregon, Turkey, Colombia and

Sixth grader Jessie Goodwin and Special Friend Ada Crovetto

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Lithuania. Guests spent the morning in grandchildren’s classrooms, playing games, learning new activities and greeting classmates and teachers. After that, the guests experienced the excitement of being a Foote student during faculty-led minicourses. Grandparents learned to make Brazilian truffles, danced in Zumba class, tried their hands at soap carving and peered through microscopes to discover the DNA of strawberries. The morning ended with a showcase of musical talent at an all-school assembly in the gym. Eighth graders sang “What a Wonderful World.” Third graders shared a Chinese song they learned from guest teacher Huang Qiong.

And fourth and fifth graders taught guests two songs with fun hand motions: “Waddaly Atcha” and “I Love the Mountains.” Before the assembly concluded, everyone watched a video of students talking

about the values of Falco’s PRIDE (Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Dependability and Excellence) and what they mean to them. The dismissal song was called “Goodbye” and every grandparent seemed to smile as they sang the refrain, “We’ll see you soon again.”

Gabriella Rinaldi, Mixed Age Group, and her grandfather Michael Rinaldi

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Special friend Stacie Petitte and Sophie Vulpe, Grade 4

Irma Bradford with her granddaughter Nia Bradford, Mixed Age Group

Head of School Carol Maoz with Grandparents Day co-chairs Gordon and Lucy Ambach

Kindergartner Zahabiya Khokha and her grandmother Salma Khokha

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Eighth grader Charlie Shaw with grandparents Merritt and Paula Clark

John Kittrell, Jr. and his granddaughter Alaysia Kittrell, Kindergarten

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A Cultural Exchange, From China to New Haven In October, Foote welcomed visitors from Yali Middle School in Changsha, China. Shortly after arriving, the group of 28 students and teachers fanned out to classrooms for a cultural exchange based on Foote’s motto, “Gladly will I learn and gladly teach,” in which each teaches something from their respective homeland. Yali students learned football, Connect Four, duck, duck goose, and baked chocolate chip cookies. Foote students learned Chinese words, songs and a game like hacky sack called jian zi. At an all-school assembly, Yali guests performed a rousing rendition of the 1988 Summer Olympic theme song, “Hand in Hand” and Foote’s jazz rock band played some good old American rock & roll. Also packed into the Yali visit: a hands-on biology lesson in the West River, a beach outing at Hammonasset, museum visits, fish and chips at Lenny and Joe’s, apple picking at Bishop’s Orchards, and baking pies for a New Haven soup kitchen. Ninth graders proved gracious hosts for their new friends, who returned the favor when the ninth graders visited China in March.

Science teacher John Cunningham displays a yellow perch collected from the West River by Yali students and ninth graders.

Ninth grader Abby McCabe and Yali student Tan Gefei exchanged cartoon portraits they drew of each other.

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Yali student Song Furui teaches Foote students Chinese characters during the “Gladly learn, gladly teach” cultural exchange.

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Yali students, from left, Zheng Yixin, Song Furui, Tan Yu, Zhou Zhengwu and He Yaqian perform during an all-school assembly.

A New Club for Math Enrichment Foote welcomed a new activity club this year — MATHCOUNTS — open to students in grades 6 through 8. Thirty-five students participated in the club this year, meeting on Saturday mornings to boost math skills with fun problems, and prepare for a statewide competition. Middle School Math Chair Megan Williams and Foote parent and Yale professor Andrew Metrick advised the club, and they say the first year was “fantastic.” “I was very pleased with the number of students that turned out and participated, especially because many of the students were younger and will continue to participate in the program for years to come,” Megan says.

Yali student Jiang Minghao listens to a storybook with Kindergartners Ally McCormack and Myles Carter-Solomon.

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Foote’s MATHCOUNTS team. Back row from left, Dylan Sloan, Clara Li, Khelan Parikh, Adin Jennings, Anjali Mangla and Neal Sarin. Front row, Evan Schott, Dani Zanuttini-Frank, Jonah Berman and David Metrick

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Filling Empty Shelves for the Needy Students participate in multiple community service projects throughout the school year. The big event this fall was the Thanksgiving food drive, coordinated by sixth graders, which collected 1,138 canned goods and raised $182 to purchase turkeys for St. Ann’s Soup Kitchen in Hamden.

Sixth graders loaded the boxes and delivered them to St. Ann’s, leaving once-empty storeroom shelves overflowing with yams, mashed potatoes, green beans and other Thanksgiving fixings. On the bus ride back to Foote, one sixth grader said to classmates, “Raise your hand if you feel really good right now.” Every hand went up.

Sixth graders, faculty and staff at St. Ann’s. Back row, guest teacher Huang Qiong, Walter Siracuse, Deb Riding, Mari Clark, Kim Birge-Liberman, Pete Cox, Jake Nadzam, Nathaniel Krauss. Middle row, Graley Turner, Tommy Styron, Kyle Shin, Jessie Goodwin, Aileen Cobb, Leah Miller and David Metrick. Front row, Paz Meyers, kitchen Manager Luke Abdus-Salam, Nahjae Petty

Before

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Summer School for Teachers Foote offers sabbaticals for professional development to faculty members with at least seven years’ experience at the school. Teachers can be reimbursed up to $3,500 to pursue travel or research that will enrich their teaching. Last summer, third grade teacher Amanda Diffley combined her sabbatical with a family vacation to the American West. The Diffleys visited four national parks — Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Arches and Canyonlands — and her up-close encounters with volcanoes, hot spots, geysers, glaciers and faults gave her new inspiration for third graders’ Earth Science unit, as well as memories to last a lifetime.

The Diffleys at the summit of Rendezvous Peak (elevation 10,927 feet) near Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Winter/Spring 2014

Author Christopher Myers listens to a Mauro-Sheridan third grader.

At Book Fair, a Big Author and Some Tall Tales For a second year, the visiting author at the annual Book Fair spent half a day at one of New Haven’s public elementary schools, where students gave him a rock star’s welcome. Christopher Myers, an award-winning illustrator and the son of author Walter Dean Myers, spent the morning at Mauro-Sheridan Interdistrict Magnet School speaking to students and signing copies of his bestselling children’s book H.O.R.S.E. — A Game of Basketball and Imagination. The visit was sponsored by the Foote PTC and thanks to a Foote parent’s donation, every MauroSheridan student took home a copy of the book, which won a 2013 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. Kids showed their appreciation by creating a huge backdrop for Myers based on his book. Later at Foote, Myers encouraged lower and middle school students to pursue careers in writing and storytelling. A hulking man with a stand-up comic’s timing, Myers had his audiences in stitches as he talked about stereotypes and his life as a professional writer. “I want you to think of yourselves as writers who will be my competition,” Myers urged Foote students. “Mind you, I’m gonna beat you.”

Christopher Myers talks with Foote students in the Twichell Room.

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A Day Devoted to the Arts Foote kicked off the school year with Arts Day on September 27. It was a celebration of the visual, musical and dramatic arts centered on the four C’s of education: creativity, communication, critical thinking and collaboration. Students participated in workshops led by local artists as well as parents, teachers and alums of Foote.

Along with theater games, mural painting, photography and sculpture, Arts Day offered some more unusual workshops, such as “Live Chicken Drawing,” “Bluegrass Instrument Making” and an architectural project called “Build a Whale Observation Station.” The day stretched students to think in new ways, and to explore new modes of expression and creativity.

Arts Day began with a giant Zumba session on the Middle School recess field.

Eighth graders Elsa Rose Farnam and Anli Raymond show off African-patterned prints.

Artist Kwadwo Adae teaches cartooning.

From left, fourth graders Aden Goldblum, Marc Pamelard, Matteo Romero, and eighth grader Adelyn Garcia

MAG students built fairy houses from sticks, pinecones and other natural materials. From left, Jacob Schonberger, Emma Yan and Irene Kim

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Swashbuckling Pirates, Mysterious Spies Foote’s winter theater productions played to sold-out, enthusiastic crowds.

In December, seventh and eighth graders performed a new adaptation of Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure story, with dramatic fight scenes, rollicking dance numbers and a memorable tug-of-war scene.

In February, ninth graders staged playwright Patrick Barlow’s adaption of the spy thriller The 39 Steps, a technical challenge that required 100 lighting changes and 56 separate sound cues. The latter play capped the ninth graders’ drama experience at Foote with a show worthy of the London Palladium!

Will Wildridge as Jim Hawkins and Eddie Martin as Long John Silver in Treasure Island

Treasure Island required a boys-versus-girls tug-of-war. From left, Mira Arbonies, Meta Russell, Ida Brooks, Lindsay Wiehl (on stairs), Madeline Mulligan, Kayla Kowal, Isabelle Crocco, Abby Cunningham, Erin King, Hannah Volk, Liam Podos, Jared O’Hare

Chase Douglas as Mr. McQuarrie in The 39 Steps

From left, Abby McCabe, Sasha Valone, Patrick Gallagher and Robin Armour in The 39 Steps

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Ninth Graders Reflect on Diversity Conference In December, six ninth graders and four faculty members hopped a train to Washington, D.C. to spend three days engaged in discussions about diversity and leadership in schools and learning more about themselves.

While faculty members attended the annual People of Color Conference, the ninth graders joined high school students from around the country at the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, exploring topics such as equity and justice in schools in peer groups. The National Association of Independent Schools sponsors both conferences. This was Foote’s first year sending students to the annual gathering. The students reflected on their experiences during an all-school faculty meeting in January, and later in a group interview with Foote Prints. Here are edited excerpts of the latter conversation: WHAT DID YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF THE CONFERENCE? PATRICK GALLAGHER: I wanted to learn more about diversity and hear from other people from a vast range of places. Going in, everyone who had been there said it was life changing.

At first, I was a little skeptical.

ROBIN ARMOUR: I wanted to have an experience that was focused on trying to promote diversity and acceptance of everybody.

HOW DID THE CONFERENCE CHALLENGE YOUR IDEAS ABOUT DIVERSITY OR STEREOTYPES? PATRICK GALLAGHER: When we think about diversity, we often think about people of color. But the conference opened my eyes to thinking

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Students and faculty who attended the conference, from left, MAG teacher Kim Yap, School Counselor Veena Raghuvir, Juliet Friedman, Courtney Joshua, Middle School Math Chair Megan Williams, Patrick Gallagher, Humanities Co-Chair Debra Riding, Robin Armour, Henry Jacob and Matthew Diemand

about diversity in a more complex way — sexual orientation, religion, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class.

WHAT’S SOMETHING ELSE THAT SURPRISED YOU AT THE CONFERENCE?

ROBIN ARMOUR: When I first got there, they were talking about sexual orientation. They told us to stand up if we were straight, gay, bi, etc…

Then they said two different sexualities I’d never heard of: pansexual and gender queer. The conference really opened my eyes to the spectrum and how wide it is.

COURTNEY JOSHUA: I was really surprised when people came out of the closet.

MATTHEW DIEMAND: One thing we did in our group, we wrote down on big pieces of paper different races and ethnicities and wrote stereotypes associated with each of them. There were some I had never seen before.

One said ‘all whites are homophobes.’

That really stuck out to me. I wouldn’t have thought people would think that.

JULIET FRIEDMAN: At the closing ceremony, a number of people came out, and said, ‘I’m gay. I’m planning on telling my mom this weekend.’

That was really powerful.

WHAT DID THE CONFERENCE TEACH YOU ABOUT YOURSELF? COURTNEY JOSHUA: It made me realize I have to speak up, speak my mind.

PATRICK GALLAGHER: I learned that I do have a culture as a white person. I always thought other races

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and religions had a distinct culture and I didn’t as a white Catholic kid.

HENRY JACOB: I realized how unaware I was of socioeconomic and religious backgrounds. Now I’m so much more aware of different people’s circumstances.

JULIET FRIEDMAN: Where I come from and what I’ve been raised as. I’m white but I’m also Jewish, and that also plays into my culture.

YOU LEARNED ABOUT SOMETHING CALLED MICROAGGRESSIONS — SMALL COMMENTS THAT CAN HURT

SOMEONE WITHOUT YOU EVEN REALIZING IT. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT? MATTHEW DIEMAND: I knew there were jokes that could hurt someone, but I didn’t know there was an actual term. Now if I hear a joke about a stereotypical thing, I would immediately think in my head, ‘microaggression.’

HOW MANY OF YOU WOULD SAY THE EXPERIENCE CHANGED YOUR LIFE? [Every student raised his or her hand.]

PATRICK GALLAGHER: The first day I came back, I sat down for lunch and noticed a few micro-aggressions right off the bat. One of them was a repeat joke that I hadn’t really thought about before. I’m definitely more mindful of what is said and what goes on.

JULIET FRIEDMAN: Before the conference, I wasn’t really confident outside of school. When a mean comment was said to someone, I didn’t really stick up for the person.

In class, I now realize that I need to say the answer to a question even if I might get it wrong.

Early American History Comes Alive Seventh graders spend months studying early American history and each student picks an historical figure to research in-depth.

The unit culminates in Early America Day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Seventh graders spend the morning visiting classrooms — in costume and in character — before presenting to an all-school assembly. Among this year’s early Americans were John Smith, Thomas Paine, George Washington, Deborah Sampson, Pocahontas, Noah Webster, Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold, who was roundly booed by the assembly crowd. Seventh graders capped the school assembly singing “Amazing Grace,” while MAG students held with tradition and performed “Over the River.”

From left, Maddie Milazzo, Nicola Sommers, Neal Shivakumar, Jocelyn Royalty, Amelia Berk, Isabelle Crocco, Abby Cunningham, Bruno Moscarini, Aaron Lake, Connor Pignatello, Renny Matthes Theriault, Richard Bershtein, Sammy Tully, Tony Lewis, Ryan Holler

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Sports Foote inaugurated a new sport this year: Squash was added to the winter lineup for boys and girls in grades 7 through 9. Athletic Director Brad McGuire says squash was adopted to give student athletes more options, and because many kids were already playing it on their own. The squash players showed real commitment to the team, waking early to practice at 7 a.m. once a week at the New Haven Lawn Club. Foote students also participated in soccer, cross country and field hockey in the fall, and basketball and swimming in winter. In all, 74 kids participated in fall sports and 71 kids played winter sports. That’s more than half of all eligible students.

Eighth graders Hannah Price (foreground) and Nandini Erodula

Seventh grader Isaiah Miller returns a serve.

Eighth graders Vincent Kenn de Balinthazy (foreground) and Matt Carroll

Eighth grader Max Brigham drives to the hoop. From left, eighth graders Eddie Martin, Henry Pearson and Elliot Sawyer-Kaplan

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From left, eighth graders Grace Romanik and Madison Sakheim

Foote Prints

Seventh graders Grace Knight (foreground) and Isabel Sorrells charge up East Rock.

Ninth grader Patrick Gallagher on the hockey field

Ten members of the Foote swim team earned medals at the 2014 Middle School State Open swim meet on Feb. 1. From left, Katherine Lima (6th), Rebecca Radebold (8th), Evan Schott (8th), Jackson Haile (8th), Neal Sarin (8th), Jared O’Hare (8th), Emily Zetterberg (8th), Christopher Gore-Grimes (6th) and Kevin Mani (7th). Not pictured, Madison Sakheim (8th)

Winter/Spring 2014

19

ALUMNI

Ted Crosby ’59 2014 Alumni Achievement Award Recipient Ted Crosby ’59 vividly remembers how it felt to visit Haiti for the first time.

“It’s like walking off the edge of the world,” he says. “You get off the airplane in Port-au-Prince and you walk into the 19th century.”

The year was 2000, and Ted and his wife Becky were on a 10-day trip to volunteer at Hospital Albert Schweitzer, a 100-bed medical center serving the poorest population in the Western Hemisphere. A fellow parishioner at their church in Old Lyme, who was a surgeon at Yale-New Haven Hospital, had done a rotation at the Haitian hospital, and suggested Ted and Becky visit as volunteers.

Ted and the volunteer team cleaned up medical waste that littered the hospital grounds. The facility lacked infrastructure to dispose of the waste properly, and people who came in contact were becoming infected as a result.

While in Haiti, Ted and Becky observed another unmet need.

Ted Crosby with Fednord Sidort, holding his university diploma after graduation from the Crosby Fund’s program

Children who showed great desire and ability to learn weren’t attending school because they couldn’t afford the modest cost of tuition, books and uniforms. More than half of all Haitians are illiterate and fewer than 15 percent of students graduate from high school.

With no education, many are relegated to living on the streets. Ted and Becky

Reunion Chairs and Contacts CLASS OF 1954 Herrick Jackson enhooker@hotmail.com

CLASS OF 1974 Brook Hersey brook.hersey@gmail.com

CLASS OF 1959 Meg Bluhm Carey megcarey11@gmail.com

CLASS OF 1979 Kris Sandine kris_sandine@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1964 Pauline Lord and Philip Ross info@whitegatefarm.net pirchitect@yahoo.com

CLASS OF 1984 Melanie Crowley Mullan mdmullan@gmail.com

CLASS OF 1969 Betsy Bradburn-Assoian EBAink@aol.com

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CLASS OF 1989 Curt Lewellyn and Amy Stephens Sudmyer clewellyn@fessenden.org thesuds@comcast.net

CLASS OF 1994 CLASS OF 1999 Lissa Moses Johnson lissa.moses@gmail.com CLASS OF 2004 Alex Wiske and Robin Woerner alex.wiske@gmail.com rkwoerner@gmail.com

realized that for as little as $120 a year, they could put a rural Haitian child through school and greatly improve his or her opportunities for employment and a stable future.

“If they don’t go to school, there’s no way of surviving as an adult,” he says. So in 2004, the couple launched the Crosby Fund for Haitian Education, which pays for children to attend the local school of their choice.

In 2006, they expanded the program to include university scholarships, and in 2009 they began offering technical school scholarships in the hope of better preparing Haitians for professional careers. Now in its tenth year, the Crosby Fund offers a continuum of scholarships for gifted students from primary school through the university level. This year, the Crosby Fund will support 336 students with full scholarships. To date, two students have graduated the program to become doctors in Haiti.

Four more are working as nurses and medical technicians.

The Artibonite Valley, where the Crosby Fund operates, is a three-andFoote Prints

This year, the Crosby Fund for Haitian Education will award scholarships to 336 students in a country where more than half the population is illiterate and fewer than 15 percent of students complete high school. a-half-hour Jeep ride from Port-auPrince along rugged, unimproved roads. The route is crammed with locals on mopeds and on foot (“People are walking 24 hours a day,” Ted says), and ramshackle dwellings dot the farmlands along the way.

Haiti has very few public schools, and the average family earns just $750 a year — often not enough to send one child to school, much less a whole family. University tuition and living expenses can run $2,500 to $5,000 a year — an impossible sum for most families.

“Every part of their life is hardscrabble,” Ted says. “It’s the dust bowl every day, every year.”

Ted and Becky see education as the key to rebuilding Haiti, especially following the devastating earthquake in 2010. The future of Haiti depends on its youth, Ted says, and without a better educated population, the conditions in the country aren’t likely to improve. The earthquake itself affected the Artibonite Valley minimally, but the region has been stressed by a massive influx of people who fled Port-au-Prince in the quake’s aftermath. In the ravaged capital, 40 Crosby-funded university students were cut off from classes because the universities had to close.

“We couldn’t get to Haiti for six months after the earthquake,” he adds.

“We were considered nonessential.”

Ted’s own education had an international flavor, inspiring the path he is on today. While at Foote, Ted and his three brothers traveled extensively throughout Europe and the former Winter/Spring 2014

Soviet Union, visiting historic and cultural sites with their father, a Yale art history professor. He spent a year at the American School of Paris when his father’s sabbatical took the family to France, and he has since traveled to more than a dozen countries in Europe, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

which they hope to build an education center where local teachers can attend professional development seminars. Ted sees that as another way to boost the quality of instruction in local schools.

Starting next year, Becky will retire from her job as minister of the First Congregational Church in Old Lyme to devote herself full-time to running the Crosby Fund as its executive director.

“I think my interest and love for traveling was first inspired by my Geography teacher at Foote, Mrs. Corbier,” he says. “She taught us about situational awareness, that there are ways of looking at your surroundings that would give you an in-depth assessment about where you are.”

The problems facing Haiti are large and vexing, but Ted and Becky are deeply committed to doing their part to make it better. Since the Fund’s founding, they have personally covered its administrative costs — there are five employees — and raised donations to fund the scholarship programs.

Every year, the fund spends every dime it takes in to fund children’s education, leaving no cushion for contingencies.

These days, Ted’s travel consists mainly of trips to the Artibonite Valley twice a year. The Crosby Fund bought a piece of property in Haiti last April, on

“You too can get to the edge and get pushed off,” Ted says, echoing his earlier comparison. “So we’re trying to stay as far from the edge as possible.”

REUNION DAY 2014 — Saturday, May 3 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 10 a.m.

Registration and refreshments in the Main Building

11 a.m.

Awards assembly in the Hosley Gymnasium Remarks, Head of School Carol Maoz Presentation of the Alumni Achievement Award to Ted Crosby ’59

Noon

Class photos

12:30 p.m.

Lunch in the Hosley Gym

2 p.m.

Open meeting of the Alumni Council to plan for the school’s Centennial celebrations in 2015–16

Evening

Individual class dinners

Registering is easy; just send back the reply card in the invitation (mailed to all alums in early April), or register online at www.footeschool.org/alumnae/reunions.

Complimentary child care is available on Reunion Day. Sign up for child care when you register online or on the reply card.

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ALUMNI

Legacies at Foote

Forty-two students attending Foote this year have parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles who attended, representing another generation of family legacies.

Front row: Casey Eskridge, daughter of Elizabeth Broadus Eskridge ’88; Sophie and Julien Gangloff, children of Amy Caplan ’88; Garrett and Theo Curtis, step-cousins of Wendy Fischer Magnan ’82 and Brad Fischer ’80; Mira Vlock Arbonies, daughter of Sandra Vlock '70; Rohan and Neal Shivakumar, sons of Claire Priest '86; Nicholas Carpenter, son of Debbie Fong Carpenter ’82; Eddie Martin, son of Catherine Petraiuolo ’83 Second row: Anya and Stella Wareck, daughters of John Wareck ’84; Marley Hansen, daughter of Christopher Hansen ’86; Wolf and Kurt Boone, sons of Sarah Netter Boone ’89; Sam and Sydney Osborne, children of Seth Osborne ’85; Penn and Josie Cancro, children of Allyx Schiavone ’85; Emmanuel and Matias Candelo-Diaz, nephews of Yami Diaz Linhart ’99; Sam Mason, son of Talbot Welles ’81; Elsa Rose Farnam, daughter of Jim Farnam ’65; Isabella and Ava Noor Sadik, daughters of Wendy Cohen Sadik ’81 Third row: Zev, Levi and Malachai York, sons of Annie Wareck ’85; Graham Possick, son of Jeff Possick ’89; Alaysia Kittrell, daughter of John Kittrell ’92; Benjamin Kruger, son of Avery Grauer ’87; Clyde Luckey, son of Spencer Luckey ’85; Ella and Lucy Peterson, daughters of Owen Luckey ’83; Julia and George Kosinski, children of Peter Kosinski ’79; Nia Bradford, daughter of Kossouth Bradford ’87; Charlie Sudmyer, son of Amy Stephens Sudmyer '89; Evie and Henry Pearson, niece and nephew of Julia Getman ’85 Missing: Abigail Kruger, daughter of Avery Grauer ’87 Nate Bogardus, nephew of Jay Palumbo ’80

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Foote Prints

Class of 2010: Where Are They Now?

Caroline Agsten Neha Anand Henry Ayres-Brown

Middlebury College Yale University Carnegie Mellon University Cameron Backes Stanford University Lucy Balcezak Vassar College Maya Haishi Bergamasco SUNY Geneseo Julia Berkman-Hill Bowdoin College Gabriel Bradley Cheshire Academy Byron Breland Jr. Southern Connecticut State University Calla Cameron Claremont McKenna College Joseph Camilleri Villanova University Melisse Carter Rosewood High School Piper Clement Williams School Max Coffey Bates College James Deng Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sydney Dinkeloo University of Connecticut Zoe Dobuler Yale University Samuel Dunning Fordham University Brandi Fullwood Middlebury College Sarah Haddad Connecticut College Briggs Harlan University of Maine Alessandra Hogan Rhode Island School of Design

Winter/Spring 2014

Carl Hooks Washington University Ryan Jackson University of Vermont Gabriel Knisely George Washington University Kyleigh Krawczyk Lasell College Alexander Kronman Yale University Tazer Landow Champlain College Rand Lewis Lafayette College Ian MacDougald Brown University Walker Marlatt University of Georgia Julia McCarthy UCLA Solomon McKenzie Rochester Institute of Technology Ashley Meng Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jonathan Nazario Westminster Choir College of Rider University Silas Newman Colby College Keara O'Connor Pitzer College Rowan Ortega Unknown Emily Ostrowski New York University Margaret Peard Williams College Clayton Pepe Rollins College Paola Perez University of Connecticut Isabella Perrino Villanova University Sean Reilly Mt. Mansfield Winter Academy Mila Rostain Yale University

Katelyn Ruwe Menaka Sachdev Walker Sachner

Yale University Brown University US Naval Academy in Fall 2014 Serena Lian Sakheim Sacred Heart Academy Alexander Sernyak Yale University Rachel Shifman University of Michigan Lamar Smith Southern Connecticut State University Dana Smooke Westover School Richard Soper Columbia University Noble Spell Hampshire College Cameron Swift Sacred Heart University Paul Tupper Princeton University Aliza Van Leesten Colby College Julia Vlock Amherst College Iris Wade Unknown Nathaniel Warner Wesleyan University Jordan Webb Unknown Simon Weissman Lafayette College Rachel Wishnie-Edwards Georgetown University Jocelyn Zapata Unknown

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ALUMNI

Class Notes

“I was first exposed to this sport at Foote more than 50 years ago, and it is still a significant part of my life.”

1932

1941 Class Correspondent: Nancy Redway Pugsley 88 Notch Hill Road Evergreen Woods, Apt. 355 North Branford, CT 06471 203-488-8312

With sadness we report the death of Ward H. Goodenough, who passed away on June 9, 2013 in Haverford, PA.

1933 We send condolances to Charles Huntington, whose sister Anna Huntington Deming ’35 passed away on January 26, 2014 in New Haven.

Charles writes that he enjoys board meetings and field trips of the Merrymeeting Audubon Society. In the summer he mows the lawn and picks and freezes peaches and other fruits. He enjoys visits from a nearby granddaughter and her parents and summer visits from four distant grandchildren and their parents.

Charles would love to hear from members of the Class of 1933!

1934 80th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Stuart Clement shclement@comcast.net

We are sad to report the death of Margaret Lincoln Bradner, who passed away on December 7, 2012 in Foxboro, MA.

1935 We are sad to report the death of Anna Huntington Deming, who passed away on January 26, 2014 in New Haven.

She was the only Foote alum to personally know all nine heads of school, from Martha Babcock Foote to Carol Maoz. She was a founding member of the Alumni Council and boasts three generations of Footies in her family: she and two brothers, two sons and three granddaughters. Anna and her classmates were an unusually close group who stayed connected throughout the years, and were honored at their 75th reunion in 2010. She made the community better because of the way she invested herself in her passions, 24

Head of School Carol Maoz and Anna Deming ’35

and was a role model for the values we try to teach at Foote. We also extend our condolences to John Goodenough, whose brother, Ward Goodenough ’32, passed away on June 9, 2013.

1936 Class Correspondent: Elizabeth Reeves Goodspeed 111 Hunter Avenue New Rochelle, NY 10801

1937 Rev. Betsey Converse Lewis and her husband, now in their nineties, have gladly settled in a lovely Maine oceanfront retirement community. Their family totals 20, including two great grandchildren, and they are working in Wisconsin, Burundi, Spain and China.

1939 75th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Anne Campbell Clement shclement@comcast.net

Hope Waters Thomas writes, “Early in September, I fell, broke my leg and hip and have spent three months in a nursing/rehab facility. After two months in a wheelchair, I am learning to walk again and was able to come home in time for Christmas. Cards and visits from family and friends have been uplifting and sustaining.”

Anna Miles Jones’ husband Ollie sent a copy of the heartfelt remarks made about his late wife at a memorial friends meeting in her honor at the Charles River School in Dover, MA, in September. One of the remembrances read, “Anna enriched the lives of all of us who were fortunate enough to work with her and learn from her. She left us better people and left the schools she served stronger institutions.”

1942 Class Correspondent: David Hitchcock, Jr. HitchDL@aol.com

1944 70th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Ruth Watson Martin The Carillon, Apt. 706 2525 Taft Dr. Boulder, CO 80302

Ruth Watson Martin writes, “All the Martins are now gathered in Colorado. Amanda ’77 and I arrived last September after selling the Loomis Place house. We both have apartments in Boulder, mine in the tower (glorious views of the front range and Flat Irons) of a senior retirement spot that seems more like a ski lodge, with residents from all over — interesting!

Amanda has contacted old friends and just finished presenting a successful show of her artwork at a local gallery.

After having twin boys (who will be 4 on Halloween), Bill ’82 and his wife Marianne decided to move down from the mountains to a larger house in close-by Louisville (10 minutes from me)! Everyone is happy.”

Foote Prints

1945 We are sad to report the death of Elinor Bozyan Warburg on February 23, 2014 in New Haven, CT. Ellie served as class correspondent and reunion host for many years and will be greatly missed.

Pamela Pond Goss is still living in Bethlehem, CT, and her children, grandchildren and one great grandchild are spread from Thailand to Rhode Island.

She reports that they are “all thriving, busy, healthy and happy!” Davida Gordon Madden is proud to report that her granddaughter Diana Sibbald earned an M.F.A. from Hunter College in New York. Diana has completed an internship at The Museum of Modern Art and assisted the curator with a large international exhibit and sale in South Korea. Her grandson Derrick Sibbald completed a year-long internship lobster fishing in Maine. Michael Buchanan writes, “Sorry to read that so many classmates have passed away. Glad to see 2013 pass by, not a good year for our family, the dreaded ‘C’ reoccurred in our son James, the writer/author, and occurrences in other family members.

We are very fortunate that son John, an M.D., has been an advocate for the best possible treatments. I thank President Obama for the ‘Affordable Health Care Act.’”

1946 Class Correspondents: Kent Healy Kent.Healy@verizon.net Karen Wylie Pryor karenpryor@comcast.net

1947 Class Correspondent: Gladys Bozyan Lavine GBLavine@gmail.com

Our deepest condolences to Gladys Bozyan Levine, whose sister, Elinor Bozyan Warburg ’45, passed away on February 23, 2014 in New Haven, CT.

1948 Nancy Adam writes “I’m learning to live in assisted living. At 78, I am one of the young here — miss setting my own bed time!” We are sad to report the death of Julia Dollard Bradford, who passed away on February 6, 2013.

1949 65th Reunion, May 3, 2014 The Class of 1949 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Danielle Plante in the alumni office at dplante@footeschool.org.

William Healy is still volunteering two times a week at the library at Mystic Seaport. We send out condolences to Margaret Bozyan Jeffreys, whose sister, Elinor Bozyan Warburg ’45, passed away on February 23, 2014 in New Haven, CT.

We send our condolences to Arakel Bozyan, whose sister, Elinor Bozyan Warburg ’45, passed away on February 23, 2014 in New Haven, CT.

Class Correspondent: Mary Pigott Johnsen jlmpjohnsen@west-point.org

Winter/Spring 2014

1951 Class Correspondent: Emily Mendillo Wood 118 Fifth Avenue Milford, CT 06460-5206 203-878-9963

1950

Lee Gaillard ’52 and his wife Ann enjoyed a two-week trip to France.

position as editor of Historic New England magazine. “I’ve had a good run and look forward to embarking on new adventures.” Vicki Blair-Smith’s highlights include kayaking, swimming laps and observing golden eagles and the red deer rut in the Scottish Highlands, plus she claims two human grandchildren and 21 Alaskan Huskies, observable on Facebook. We extend our condolences to Mary Pigott Johnsen, whose husband of 57 years, John, died in July. Mary is now residing in Rancho Solano near Fairfield, CA, and two of her sons are within a mile of her, just across 11 tennis courts and a golf course. She hopes wandering members of ’50 will appear at her door. John Dollard retired at the end of last August from the University of Texas at Austin, where his math and leadership skills reigned for many years. Now he finds himself with household fixers, playing guitar and banjo, woodworking and working The New York Times crossword puzzle, plus chess contests on the computer.

We extend our sympathy to the family of John Berry, who passed away on August 29, 2013 at his summer home in Madison, CT. Nancy Curtis reports that on April 1 she will retire from her

1952 Class Correspondent: Harald Hille harald.hille@gmail.com

Lee Gaillard had several photographs selected for exhibit in two juried art shows, a poem titled “Field Training” published in the October issue of Leatherneck magazine, and in March was interviewed on Washington’s Federal News Radio about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. In June, 25

ALUMNI

Healing Veterans Through Art

medical student. Without any formal training, she went on to teach art therapy at New York University, where she later earned a master’s degree. She came to the VA in 1995 after 20 years as an art therapist at YaleNew Haven Hospital.

Martha Haeseler ’57 Every day, Martha Haeseler ’57 helps veterans heal their mental wounds with paints and pastels, charcoals and clay. As art therapist and director of the Giant Steps Program at the VA Medical Center in West Haven, Martha helps former service members use art to work through their problems, or just to forget about them for a while.

Like many who came of age in the 1960s, Martha had misgivings about the military. She marched against the Vietnam War in her 20s, while pregnant and pushing a stroller. But after 19 years at the VA, Martha has found the hospital a friendly place with a strong sense of community, and her work has deepened her understanding of the challenges veterans face.

Martha grew up in New Haven and Guilford, the daughter of a Yale classics professor. Her time at Foote was brief — she left after fifth grade — but the memories are vivid. She fondly recalls her art teacher, Mrs. Rabinowitz, who invited the students in her Saturday art classes to her country home in Woodbridge.

“We were encouraged to be free spirits, and flit about in the fields and hug the cows,” she recalls. “It was sort of a prehippie love fest.”

A lifelong art lover, Martha says she “fell into” art therapy.

Following in the footsteps of her father, she majored in Latin at Barnard College, but later decided to pursue her real passion.

Her first art therapy job was with child psychiatry patients at King’s County Hospital in Brooklyn, where her husband was a

Lee and his wife enjoyed a two-week tour through France. Serafina Kent Bathrick reports from Siracusa (Sicily), “My news is outwardly static — more of the same: I spend six summer months on a farm in Avoca (Wisconsin), where I run a restaurant (Lightyears), and six winter months in Siracusa, where I have myself. I am more flexible in my efforts to write and paint and give my inner life a lot of 26

Vets in the Giant Steps Program come two days a week to a bright, plant-filled room on the second floor of the VA, where they have open access to an array of art materials.

Martha and art therapy interns are on hand to offer instruction in painting, sculpting and other techniques, but vets are also encouraged to follow their own creative instincts.

“The focus is on being supportive of each other and we aim to make it comfortable and safe for people to use the art materials to express themselves,” says Martha.

Many of the 65 participants have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, PTSD or are survivors of military sexual assault. The illnesses can be debilitating but Martha has seen art therapy transform vets, giving them new avenues to express emotions.

On one occasion, when a vet drew a green-headed monster, Martha asked him why he drew it. He said “I was late”, indicating that he felt “like a monster” for being tardy.

“He might not have even known he was feeling it, but out it came.” That same vet set a goal to socialize more, and, with encouragement from the program, reunited with family members he hadn’t seen in years.

Now 70, Martha recently decided she’ll retire after two more years. She wants to spend more time with her husband, Frederick, and their six grandchildren, and to focus on her own art and gardens. Still, she’ll miss the work she does.

“I love seeing the veterans produce art and grow.”

close attention! Old age brings so many insights! Hope you are all well and warm. Just being ‘outta WI’ in winter feels great. I can actually smell the sea and the soil here, in January.”

Nancy Osterweis Alderman adds her news from Hamden, CT: “All of our four grandchildren are in college with the two oldest graduating this spring.

If that does not make one feel far removed from our Foote School days,

that fact sure brings it home. Happily, I am still working trying to get better policies to protect human health from environmental harms. With the complicated world we are living in, there is no end to these efforts. As one example of our work: ‘fracking’ for natural gas is presenting health problems for those who live near the wells — and even though we do not frack in Connecticut, our organization Foote Prints

worries that those states that do frack would send their toxic waste into our state. We are working on legislation that will ban that waste from coming into Connecticut. I still miss our classmate Stephanie and think of her often. Losing people is just very hard.”

Harald Hille in Riverside, CT, finds that retirement, while not very relaxing, has many advantages. He writes, “I worked all fall again in 2013 doing translation for the U.N. in New York City during the General Assembly, in the shadow of the unending cruelty of the Syrian civil war, which dampened the somewhat better prospects for an Israel-Palestine settlement. Took a newly 10-year-old granddaughter (four in all now) to Sweden in June to see the ‘old country.’

Participated in the 60th anniversary concert weekend of my old college singing group, the Yale Russian Chorus (www.yrcalums.org) in November.

Both very rewarding occasions.”

1953 Class Correspondent: Robert Wing wing@astronomy.ohio-state.edu

1954 60th Reunion, May 3, 2014 The Class of 1954 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Danielle Plante in the alumni office at dplante@footeschool.org.

1955 Class Correspondents: Nawrie Meigs-Brown nawrie@comcast.net Lee Dunham LDunham@sandw.com

Lee Dunham reports that he and his wife are enjoying time with grandchildren Kenley (2) and Liam (aka William Dunham V, 4) and are fortunate to have close family in the Winter/Spring 2014

greater Boston area. Lee continues to enjoy representing clients as a parttime partner in his law firm and serving as chair of the Board of Bar Overseers, the agency that registers, disciplines and regulates lawyers in Massachusetts. Bud Conrad is still working on his second career after finishing up his first in computers in 1992. He is now chief economist at Casey Research, which specializes in gold, energy, technology and bigpicture economics. His boy/girl twins just turned 37 and his daughter has five children, whom she is homeschooling. Bud has published a book, Profiting from the World’s Economic Crisis: Finding Investment Opportunities by Tracking Global Market Trends, which can be found on Amazon. Phebe Thorne and her partner Neil are always ready for an adventure and traveling often now that Neil is retired they skied almost every day from December to midApril in Sun Valley, ID. She will be moving in April to Charleston, SC, which is a warmer climate in the winters (when they can’t ski anymore) and has a great array of art, music, history and good food.

1956 Class Correspondent: Will Amatruda willtam88@hotmail.com

1957 Class Correspondent: Kevin Geenty kevin@geentygroup.com

Congratulations to Richard Petrelli and his wife Marion, who celebrated their 38th anniversary this past summer by spending time in Maine’s Acadia National Park. Now retired, Richard is more active in the New Haven community, enrolling in courses, teaching at the medical school, participating in his local book club and skiing at Stowe with a

season’s pass! John Ewell in Berkley, CA, reports that he is retired. He spent two years in Hong Kong after college, teaching English and learning Chinese. John’s two brothers, both Footies, live abroad: one in Kenya, soon to retire, the other in Tuscany.

Peter Setlow writes, “I am still working, with no plans to retire in the near future. Still heavily engaged in research at UConn Health Center on bacterial spores, little beasts that have fascinated me for 45-plus years now, and I work with my wife of almost 50 years. Break the research up a bit with coaching girls travel team soccer in Farmington, something I have done for 33 years now, fall, winter and spring. Hard to believe I was first exposed to this sport at Foote more than 50 years ago and it is still a significant part of my life. My two children are grown and gone, and both have tenured faculty positions, one at the University of Florida Medical School, and one at Arizona State University. Total of three grandchildren, and it is great to visit with them in the winter months in the warm places where they live.” Kevin Geenty is still full time at Geenty Group Realtors with his daughter, Kristin Geenty, as his boss. He and his wife Mikki will be taking a river cruise to France on the Rhone in October. Tessa Stanwood Davis reports, “It was wonderful having everyone here over the holidays this year.” Her daughter Allison, son-inlaw Harold and grandson Gabriel (3½) are in the midst of moving to Boulder where Allison has just started a “perfect-for-her” new job. Harold and Gabe will follow as soon as he can leave his current job in California and find one there. Daughter Laura has added graduate school (occupational therapy) to her busy life in Los Angeles. Husband Alan continues to love his teaching and research so much that thoughts of retirement are far away. Tessa writes, “My life continues to be full and 27

ALUMNI

fulfilling. I feel very lucky to be as healthy as I am, and that I was able to celebrate turning the big 70 with a lot of hiking in the Colorado mountains last summer.” Tessa got together with Joan Johnson Stone and Melissa Bradley when Joan came to Denver to visit her son. Tim Gaillard remarried in 2012 to Grace Chao. He sold a restored 1719 colonial house and moved into a contemporary home where he set up his furniture shop in the huge basement. He is still doing some real estate work and looking forward to the next reunion!

1958 Class Correspondent: Eric Berger ericberger@aol.com

Barry Stratton has been a commercial/ residential real estate salesperson with Geenty Group Realtors since 2008.

Barry is an IBM retiree.

1959 55th Reunion, May 3, 2014 The Class of 1959 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Danielle Plante in the alumni office at dplante@footeschool.org.

Ted Crosby’s work in Haiti has reached its 10th year and 335th student enrolled in the scholarship program. Ted and his wife, Becky, raise funds every year to support sending students to the school of their choice in or near their homes in the Artibonite Valley in central Haiti. Ted writes, “I am looking forward to the 55th anniversary of the Class of ’59 and to catching up with everyone.”

(Read a profile of Ted, this year’s recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award, on page 20). Caroline “Bunny” Fazekas received a “6 Who Care” Award from WCHS Channel 6 in Portland, ME, for her volunteer work at The Gathering Place, a day shelter for homeless and low-income 28

From left, Joan Johnson Stone ’57 visited with Tessa Stanwood Davis ’57 and Melissa Bradley ’57 in Boulder, CO.

individuals. The award recognized her as a founder and volunteer coordinator, and lauded her for being caring and nonjudgmental.

1960 Class Correspondent: Happy Clement Spongberg happyspongberg@earthlink.net

Happy Clement Spongberg is on the 50th Reunion Committee for her class at Westover and writes she is “in disbelief that so many years have passed since 1964.” Richard Hooker and his wife Donna planned to be skiing at Okemo in Vermont and in Lake Tahoe this winter. In April, they will host the 56th Rochester International Film Festival — the oldest in the world! In May, they will take a six-day cruise on the Chesapeake Bay. Steve Wilmer has just retired from Trinity College Dublin but has been rehired to teach a short course. He is also helping to organize a train conference from Helsinki to Rovaniemi in April with the theme “Theatre and the Nomadic Subject.”

Congratulations to Margie Howe Emmons, who celebrated the birth of her fifth grandchild, a boy, born on July 29, 2013, and to Pat Fiorito

Oakes, who also welcomed a grandson, Jonah, on October 15, 2013.

Pat is in her 21st year of working at the New Canaan Country School.

Congratulations also to Bill Henning, whose daughter Alicia was married on June 15, 2013.

1961 Class Correspondent: Muffie Clement Green m_c_green@sbcglobal.net

1962 Class Correspondent: Donald O. Ross dross@winvcounsel.com

We send condolences to Donald Ross, who lost his mother and stepmother this past year. He writes that the younger generations — three grandchildren — are flourishing. He is working hard in Boston and Newport and reports that while his tennis game has slowed a bit, his golf game is strong!

1963 Class Correspondent: Susan Stratton susan@strattonpartners.com

Foote Prints

1964 50th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Verdi DiSesa vdisesa@cchosp.com

Pauline Lord is the owner of White Gate Farm in East Lyme, which keeps expanding and now offers cooking classes, a wedding venue, prepared foods made from their organic produce, dinner at the farm events (July 9–14), Thanksgiving turkeys and a popular farm stand. Pauline finds it “absorbing and fun!” Her daughter Megan (28) loves her nursing/midwifery work in New York City. Robin Hicks is retired and living in Arizona.

He has one daughter (42) and two granddaughters (18 & 21), who live in eastern Texas. Robin hitchhiked 35,000 miles in the ’70s and ’80s, made a solo trip to Egypt in 2000 and wrote a 428-page novel, Cobalt Blue.

He reads a lot and enjoys time with his “almost perfect” black lab, Sirius.

We extend our sympathies to Philip Ross, who lost his mother and stepmother this past year.

1965 Class Correspondent: Eric Triffin Eric_Triffin@aya.yale.edu

1966 Class Correspondent: John N. Deming, Jr. johndeming@yahoo.com

We extend sympathy to John Deming, whose mother Anna Huntington Deming ’35 passed away on January 26, 2014.

1967 Class Correspondent: Nina Anderson tropickat@verizon.net

Winter/Spring 2014

1968

1972

Class Correspondents: Liz Prelinger prelinge@georgetown.edu

Class Correspondents: Amy Estabrook heyamo@snet.net

Leland Torrence lelandtorrence@optonline.com

Cathy Hosley Vouwie chv79@hotmail.com

Rob Clark rclark@perrigo-inc.com

Louise Preston Werden writes, “Hope, my youngest daughter, graduated from ConVal High School on June 8. Hope and her sister Devon attended the New York City premiere of the movie The Way Way Back. Devon plays the role of Laura in the movie.”

1969 45th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Meg McDowell Smith megsmithvt@gmavt.net

Gerry Hemingway, along with Jin Hi Kim, presented “Digital Buddha,” a multimedia improvisation featuring geomungo, percussion and video, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on January 31.

1970 The Class of 1970 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Danielle Plante in the alumni office at dplante@footeschool.org.

Ruth Lounsbury Ozeki was on the short list for the 2013 Man Booker Prize for her novel A Tale for the Time Being. Bob O’Connor has been in the marketing trades since graduating from Kenyon College. He is launching a new trade as a writer. Look for his book, Gumptionade, this summer. Lynne Hansen is living in the woods of Maine with her chocolate lab. She moved to Maine from Connecticut with her husband and two sons in 1986. She worked as an administrator for nonprofit mental health programs for years. She is currently taking it easy and enjoying being a grandma.

1971 The Class of 1971 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Danielle Plante in the alumni office at dplante@footeschool.org.

1973 Class Correspondent: Peter Hicks phicks@websterbank.com John Persse john921@juno.com

Henry Lord showed an exhibit of his photography titled “Ecuador and Uruguay” at the New Haven Free Public Library in October.

1974 40th Reunion, May 3, 2014 The Class of 1974 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Danielle Plante in the alumni office at dplante@footeschool.org.

Emlyn Hughes is a professor of physics at Columbia University. He has six children ages 2, 8, 12, 21, 23 and 26. He enjoys marathon running and watching his 8 and 12-year-olds ski race at Mount Snow.

1975 Class Correspondent: Jessica Drury sjsaz@optonline.net

Myles Alderman has joined the law firm of Halloran & Sage LLP as chair of the Bankruptcy, Creditors’ Rights and Restructuring practice. Joan 29

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Bigwood is happy to announce that her daughter is heading off to Wesleyan University, her first choice and according to Joan, a perfect fit.

She adds, “It may not surprise you that the first theatre professional I consulted about a new script I wrote last year was none other than Mr. Walter Mitty himself.” Joan has been in touch with many Foote classmates: She had coffee with Marcus Stern in Cambridge last summer; she has opened a private eye agency with Duby McDowell; and she has heard from Georgia Ford Griscom, who wrote from Florida where she is visiting her sister, Katrina Fielder Kujan ’78. Also, Joan and sister Kate Bigwood Atkinson ’70 met up with Peter Hicks ’73 in Northampton, MA, to cheer on brother Peter Bigwood ’73, who was fronting his band Dadz in their farewell concert. Roger Smith just celebrated the 9th anniversary of his company, Source Audio. Their newest product, the Hot Hand USB, received the editor’s choice award from Electronic Musician magazine.

He writes about his three children: Whitney is working on Wall Street at Red Light Artist Management; James is at Fordham studying computer science and “apparently geeking out with his dad then heliskiing with said dad in British Columbia;” and youngest Chris is in school in Puerto Rico “yet still manages to join the crew in the deep and steep of B.C.” Morgan Stebbins defended his doctorate in Hermeneutics (the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible and literary texts) and Religion. He teaches at New York Theological Seminary and the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care on the history and practice of Zen, depth psychology, etc. He is commuting from his home in Garrison, NY, where he lives with his giant puppies. David Coffin hosts a Saturday brunch cruise on Boston Harbor. Bruce Conklin’s son Dylan is studying at the Kennedy 30

Center and is still very interested in China. Jessica Drury also has three children: Sam is in Washington, D.C., working at a think tank, The Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center; Alexa is a freshman at the University of Chicago studying classics; and Zoe, a sophomore in high school, is still home with her mother.

1976 Class Correspondent: John Holder Jholder3@carolina.rr.com

1977 Class Correspondent: Elizabeth Daley Draghi gdraghi@sbcglobal.net

Amanda Martin moved to Boulder, CO last September and presented a successful art show at a local gallery there.

1978 Class Correspondents: Nell DeVane Eleanor.S.DeVane@espn.com Stephen Fontana SAFontana@aol.com

1979 35th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Bonnie Welch Bonniewelch@taftschool.org

Congratulations to Yeng-Tse Wu, who married Edward Palmisano on October 19, 2013 in New York. Kris Sandine was the software director of the “Digitizer,” which was chosen by Popular Mechanics magazine as one of the top 10 breakthrough products of 2013.

1980 Class Correspondent: Liz Geller Brennan gelbren@aol.com

1981 Class Correspondents: Jennifer LaVin jen2766@gmail.com Nicolas Crowley nyjcrowley@hotmail.com

With great sadness, we report the death of Brian Liburd on October 5, 2013 in Hartford, CT. Michele Cavallaro writes that she recently became engaged and moved to Boca Raton, FL, with her fiancé and his two daughters, who are 7 and 10.

She considers herself “extremely lucky that they are amazing girls and we have all weathered the experience pretty well.” She is still working as inhouse counsel for the world’s largest title insurer, but now gets to practice much more appellate law, which she loves. Michele reports that she gets to Connecticut a few times a year since most of her family is still here, especially her grandmother, who is 102 years young! She rang in the new year skiing on fresh powder in Breckenridge, CO, and hopes 2014 brings good things to all. Patrick Clendenen and his wife Patty celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary last summer. Together they’ve raised three kids and five dogs. The kids (Paul, Drew, and Claire) are all in college—Clemson University, Miami University (OH) and Providence College. All but two of the dogs (Riley, a black lab, and Luna, a boxer mix) have passed. Pat has finished his youth sports coaching and continues to practice law in Boston. Patty has finished her homemaking and is now working in the insurance industry. Pat was recently appointed to chair the Business and Corporate Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association’s business law section.

He sends his best to the class of 1981!

Nicolas Crowley continues to enjoy life in Dubai, commenting that the mix of nationalities there is “quite Foote Prints

Helping Singers Find Their Voices Tom Brand ’88 Tom Brand ’88 is standing before a choir of girls arranged on risers inside St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bridgeport. All is silent until Tom lifts his arms and signals the choir to sing. The sound that flows from the singers is almost overpowering, filling every corner of the cavernous stone church with lush and beautiful harmonies.

On this Sunday in January, Tom is conducting a concert of the Elm City Girls Choir, the group he built from scratch to become Connecticut’s premier female choral group. Today, the Elm City Girls’ Choir is the flagship ensemble of the United Girls’ Choir network, an organization which comprises 600 singers in 32 distinct choral ensembles around the state. For two decades, the program has offered local girls ages 6 to 18 the opportunity to sing, conduct and become peer leaders in a supportive community. Girls of every race and income level sing in the choirs, and none has ever been turned away for an inability to pay.

The Elm City Girls’ Choir celebrated its 20th anniversary with a big concert last spring, and Tom recently launched a new group called the Saecula Women’s Choir for older choristers who have aged out of the program. But the organization’s roots go back to Foote.

As Tom recalls, recruiters from Trinity Boys Choir came to campus to find new talent and Tom’s older brother Jeff Brand ’84, was offered a slot. Tom went to hear the choir perform at Trinity Episcopal Church in New Haven and was blown away.

“You could literally feel the building shaking with the power and vibrations of this pipe organ,” Tom says. “It sort of transported my little 5-year-old soul to another place. I was totally captivated and I said to myself, ‘This is what I want to do.’”

Tom later ended up joining the Trinity Boys Choir himself and went on to attend the American Boychoir School in Princeton, N.J., where he received additional vocal training.

Years later, Foote again played a role in Tom’s future. After his sophomore year at Yale, Tom got a job as musical director for Foote’s summer theater program. That year’s production, Alice in Wonderland, had few interesting singing parts for the talented crop of girls. So Tom assembled the girls into a “madrigal group” and taught them to sing in four-part a cappella harmony. He then sprinkled those songs throughout the musical. When the summer ended, one of the girl’s mothers asked Tom to recommend a girls choir so her daughter could continue singing.

Winter/Spring 2014

“I scratched my head and said, ‘I’m so sorry. I don’t know of anything like this. If she were a boy, I’d recommend Trinity Boys Choir,’” Tom recalls. “This mom was pretty persistent. She said, ‘That won’t do. Would you consider starting something throughout the school year?’”

A few weeks later, in the fall of 1993, Tom found himself at a piano in that mom’s living room, leading a chorus of 16 girls.

They adopted the name Elm City Girls’ Choir and held practice every Tuesday afternoon at the house, on St. Ronan Street in New Haven.

Now Tom and his faculty are the ones scouring schools for young talent. They visit 70 schools a year, and make a point of getting to every public elementary school in New Haven.

Over the years, the choirs have performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and on concert tours of England, Italy and Puerto Rico. They have been featured on CD recordings with the Yale Whiffenpoofs and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and have appeared on live national television with Diana Ross. But the most meaningful performances, Tom says, are those for nursing home residents. Giving back to the community is a central value of the organization.

Girls brought into the program are given opportunities to conduct, and several have come back as paid faculty. The groups become diverse sisterhoods, Tom says, and the girls support and learn from each other as singers and friends. In a sense, the music itself becomes secondary to the trusting, lasting relationships the girls form, and the life lessons the experience imparts.

“It’s not really about the music,” Tom says. “It’s about realizing our potential as human beings. It’s about finding your voice and having the confidence to say what you believe. It’s about sharing our gifts, serving others, and promoting harmony in the world.”

ONLINE: Watch video of Tom conducting the Elm City Girls Choir at www.footeschool.org/FootePrints

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incredible.” He mentioned he has a guest bedroom if anyone wants to visit, but suggests avoiding the summer months, when temperatures rise to more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Jennifer LaVin writes that after nine years of working from home as a communications consultant and freelance writer, she’s adjusting to life back in-house as executive director of corporate communications at Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, a small, newly public biopharmaceutical company in Watertown, MA. She also proudly reports the publishing of her first academic book chapter, by Harvard Business Publishing, on the topic of brands and brand equity.

During 2013, she and Harvard Business School Professor Rohit Deshpandé completed two additional chapters, one on global marketing and one on customer centricity, both to be published this spring. Hope Nye Yeager continues to teach elementary school in rural Vermont. “This year, fourth grade, next year, who knows?” she writes. She and husband Doug’s one and only child recently turned 9 years old — an “amazing reminder of how time flies.” She also added that their recently adopted cat, Pete, is getting awfully fat without having his 12 brothers and sisters to compete with for food. She sends warm greetings to her Foote classmates!

1982 Class Correspondent: Bethany Schowalter Appleby bappleby@wiggin.com

Kate DeVane’s nonprofit, The Island Autism Group, is gearing up to become The Island Autism Center. The center will offer summer retreat programs for families who have children with autism, after-school and support programs for island families in the winter, and year-round housing for adults with disabilities. She writes, “Big dreams, big plans! Any classmates who feel they can give me tips on business 32

building, give me a shout!” Kate is also in the landscaping business and is raising 9-year-old twins, a rescue dog and a very big puppy. Clark Thompson is still working at Credit Suisse in New York, heading IT strategy for the Americas. He and his wife Laura are empty nesters, with Gus (19) off to Champlain College in Burlington, VT, and Lydia (17) a junior at the George School. Clark recently had a great dinner at the National Arts Club in New York City with Steve Holt, Mike Drury and Ben Allison.

1983 Class Correspondent: Brinley Ford Ehlers Brinleysf@aol.com

1984 30th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Ann Pschirrer Brandt apschirrer@aol.com

1985 Class Correspondent: Carter LaPrade Serxner lapserx@gmail.com

1986 Class Correspondent: Ellen Prokop prokop@frick.org

1987

reviews. The film, Kill Your Darlings, stars Daniel Radcliffe and was released in theaters on October 18.

We extend our sympathy to Justin Goodyear, whose father Zachary Goodyear passed away on November 14, 2013. Lara Bovilsky is a tenured professor of English at the University of Oregon. She and husband Terrence have a son, Sam, born in 2013.

1989 25th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Toya Hill Clark trose7@hotmail.com

Luke McFadden is living happily outside Washington, D.C. with his wife Marguerite and three children, Ellie (9), Noah (6) and Hannah (4).

Luke sees Peter Fitton regularly when he is in the Connecticut area since they became stepbrothers in 2009.

1990 The Class of 1990 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Danielle Plante in the alumni office at dplante@footeschool.org.

Congratulations to Stephanie Berman Raphael and her husband Eric, who welcomed their daughter Emma Juliette on August 27, 2013. Adam Bovilsky is director of human resources for the city of Norwalk, and director of the commissions on

Class Correspondents: Jonathan Levin jdlevin@stanford.edu

1988 The Class of 1988 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Danielle Plante in the alumni office at dplante@footeschool.org.

John Krokidas’ feature film directorial debut premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival to positive

Emma Juliette Raphael, born August 27, 2013, daughter of Stephanie Berman Raphael ’90 and her husband Eric

Foote Prints

World Traveler and Humanitarian Wende Valentine ’89 The travel bug bit Wende Valentine ’89 at a young age. When she was just 5, Wende begged her mother to send her to overnight camp in Vermont — for four weeks — and her mother and the camp director both said yes. After high school, she worked on a Norwegian sheep farm for $80 a week, and spent a winter as a conservation volunteer in Australia, living on 30-cent ice cream cones and sleeping on the beach.

But her most transformative adventure came during her sophomore year at Skidmore College, on a rainforest field studies trip to Belize and Guatemala. Her group was deep in Wende Valentine ’89 with six Guatemalan girls in the Starfish the jungle, eight miles from the nearest road, when a empowerment program classmate contracted spinal meningitis and died. Every student realized it could have been him or her instead. Two students on “No one should ever feel have the opportunity to break through the glass ceiling,” says Wende, noting that the trip chose to go home immediately, but like they don’t have a Guatemalan girls face the worst gender Wende and 10 others decided to stay. The disparity in the Western Hemisphere. decision changed their lives. voice or a choice.”

“Before that I was afraid of dying,” Wende says. “After that, I was afraid of not living.”

Wende has lived a great deal in the 20 years since, traveling to more than 40 countries and learning five languages.

Now she lives in Evergreen, Colo., with her husband, mountain climber Jake Norton, and two children: Lila, 6, and Ryrie, 4.

After graduating from University of Denver with a master’s degree in International Development, she spent 11 years at Water For People, a global nonprofit devoted to supporting sustainable access to safe drinking water in places that lack it. As international programs manager, she was responsible for managing field staff and projects throughout Africa, India and Latin America.

Now, the 39-year-old has come full circle to Central America.

She works as development director for the Colorado-based nonprofit organization Starfish (www.starfish-impact.org), which empowers Mayan girls and families in rural Guatemala by funding access to education, supportive female mentors, tutors, and an “empowerment curriculum” that catapults them over decades of perpetual poverty.

Starfish aims to change that by graduating 500 “pioneers,” as the girls are called, by the year 2028, unlocking a generation of thoughtful leaders and enabling a collective impact for their families, their communities, their country, and quite possibly, the world. To date, Starfish girls are 50 to 60 times more likely to enroll in university within one year of graduation, compared to girls not enrolled in the Starfish program. Pioneers have gone on to law school, medical school and bilingual schools that lead to higher education abroad.

A native of Wallingford, Wende says her drive to help others was fostered by community service projects at Foote.

Wende’s mother, longtime Foote teacher Lynne Valentine, took her to the soup kitchen on the night of her 10th birthday. “We spent the evening feeding people less fortunate than us rather than just focusing on cake and presents,” Wende recalls. “It really left a mark on me.”

While at Foote, she also volunteered with special needs students in New Haven and elderly residents in Hamden.

“There is undeniable human potential and connection despite differences in intellectual and social capital, economics, race, gender or geography,” she says. “No one should ever feel like they don’t have a voice or a choice.”

“Because of a 36-year civil war and an immense pressure to fulfill traditional roles, Mayan women and girls almost never

Winter/Spring 2014

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Human Relations, Civil Rights and Fair Rent. His son Eli is 7. Dave Holley completed the 12-Plus-Mile Spartan Beast Obstacle Race in Monterey, CA at the end of 2013.

He is still working as a senior project manager in San Francisco and obtained his project management professional credential in early February.

Sarah Rand is still teaching middle school studio art at Wooster School in Danbury, CT. This year, in addition to teaching, Sarah took on the role of middle school dean of students. She lives in Mount Kisco, NY with her husband David and their two sons, Max (7) and Jack (3). She writes, “It has been great connecting with Chris Selden locally in Danbury.”

1991 Class Correspondent: Bo Bradstreet ebradstr@gmail.com

1992 Class Correspondent: Katie Madden Kavanagh katieblee@hotmail.com

Congratulations to Jenny Fong Stevenson and her husband Chris on the birth of Grayce on May 4, 2013.

Grayce joins big brother Max. We

extend our sympathy to Trevor Goodyear, whose father Zachary Goodyear passed away on November 14, 2013. Aimee DeBarbieri Poirier is the owner and founder of the Collective Healing Center in Winchester, MA. She continues to connect conventional and complementary medicine in the Boston area and internationally.

1993 Class Correspondent: Jenny Keul jennykeul@gmail.com

1994

The cover of a recently published book by Emily Oster ’95

20th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondent: Arna Berke-Schlessel Zohlman arnie250@hotmail.com

Congratulations to Jeffrey Einhorn on the birth of his son, Enzo Alexander.

Jeffrey is still practicing criminal defense law in Manhattan.

1995 Class Correspondent: Jack Hill seaburyhill@aol.com

Emily Oster recently wrote and published a book, Expecting Better:

Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong — And What You Really Need to Know. Her book has been widely reviewed and promoted

by The New York Times, Huffington Post, New York magazine and Business Insider. Emily has been featured on the “Today” show and other morning talk shows, and Expecting Better is among the bestselling pregnancy and childcare books on Amazon. Congratulations to Grayson Murphy and his wife Kate Brubacher on the birth of their daughter, Eleanor Anne Wedel Murphy, on November 4, 2013.

1996 Class Correspondent: Brett Nowak Nowak.Brett@gmail.com Katy Zandy Atlas katy91@gmail.com

Max Stevenson and his new sister Grayce Stevenson, children of Jenny Fong Stevenson and husband Chris

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Congratulations to Lee Ann Richter and her husband John on the birth of their daughter, Jane Elsie Farden, on October 6, 2013. Jane joins older brother Jacoby. Coincidentally, Hadley Levine ’98 was the labor and delivery nurse. Ted Bailey and his company Dataminr were featured in an article

Foote Prints

Holding the Powerful Accountable Tim Farnam ’97 To Tim Farnam ’97, life can be a little like old plumbing.

“Occasionally, you have to rip everything out and start over,” he says.

For him, that meant leaving a coveted position as staff reporter at The Washington Post. After three years at the paper, Tim was eager to pursue a long-held goal of reporting from another country — and that wasn’t happening anytime soon at the Post.

“I started sucking up to the foreign desk as soon as I got there, but those jobs are super competitive as you could imagine,” says Tim, who is 31. “You basically have to wait around until you’re 40 to get it. I wanted to go now.”

Tim’s pursuit has led him to Juayua, El Salvador, a small mountain town along the so-called Route of Flowers. He spent this winter learning Spanish surrounded by volcanoes and waterfalls – a far cry from snowy D.C. and its pressure-cooker politics. Once he’s conversant, Tim will relocate to Bogota, Colombia to cover “I want to deliver journalism Latin America as a freelancer. One story of interest is how the drug cartels are stories in a new way.” migrating as governments crack down.

Raised in New Haven and Wallingford, Tim came to Foote late, enrolling in eighth grade and staying for ninth. It was a short stint but Tim fondly recalls good teachers who pushed him academically.

At New York University, he double-majored in journalism and computer science. “It seemed like the perfect job,” Tim says of reporting. “You are learning new things every day, talking to new people. It’s an excuse to be curious and ask people at times inappropriate questions.”

Tim’s first gig was a summer internship at his hometown paper, the New Haven Register, where he adopted the byline “T.W. Farnam” to avoid being confused with his father, New Haven consultant Jim Farnam ’65.

A series of “lucky breaks” and hard work propelled his career from there. During his senior year, Tim freelanced five days a week, 12 hours a day, chasing crime stories for Newsday — on top of his regular course load. While later interning at The Wall Street Journal, he wrote a computer code that could download congressional records to be sorted and analyzed.

Winter/Spring 2014

His research revealed that spending on overseas trips by members of Congress had increased 1000 percent in just a few year’s time, with politicians taking questionable taxpayer-funded trips to the South Pole and elsewhere. The series won Tim and his reporting partner the 2010 Everett McKinley Dirksen Award, the National Press Club’s top honor for coverage of Congress.

Tim parlayed that success into a staff job at the Post, where his analysis of 130,000 public records resulted in another big scoop: lawmakers and Capitol Hill staffers taking trips funded by foreign governments, in violation of congressional ethics rules.

“Every journalist has their own ways of getting information.

Some people are really good at working a beat — bringing cookies to city hall,” Tim says. “I’ve always been much more of a document hound, using public information and looking for stories in public records.”

Looking ahead, Tim hopes to combine his skills in reporting and computer programming to pioneer a new frontier in digital news. “I want to deliver journalism stories in a new way,” he says.

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on the Fox Business website headlined “How Twitter Helps Hedge Funds Find Lucrative Stock Tips.”

1997 Class Correspondent: Eliza Sayward elizasayward@yahoo.com

Tera Zarra suffered a very serious rotator cuff tear last year. She is teaching, doing physical therapy and hoping that she will rise again in time.

1998 Class Correspondents: Andrew Lebov aklebov@gmail.com Elisabeth Sacco saccopotatoes@gmail.com

Andrew Lebov has been a motion designer at Google in Mountain View, CA for almost four years. In addition to producing animated videos for Google’s products, he has collaborated on some of the animated Google Doodles.

1999

Jane Elsie Farden, newborn daughter of Lee Ann Richter ’96 and her husband John

Honor Caitlin Babiarz Kobelski, Maid of Honor Erin Sweeney ’02, Rob Madden, Sadie Lieber, Dan Leventhal and Holly (Noble) O’Brien ’79.

Congratulations to Caitlin Cahow, who was selected by President Barack Obama to serve as one of his delegates to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Caitlin, a two-time Olympic ice hockey medalist, was also recently featured in a USA Today story about her concussions, subsequent recovery and retirement from professional hockey.

Eleanor Campisano writes, “After a busy year as deputy campus director at the Bronx Writing Academy in the

South Bronx, I’m now freelancing in New York City as an educational consultant and looking at graduate schools. The relatively slower pace has enabled me to try out a local food co-op and expand my locavore and cooking horizons. My boyfriend is a sound engineer with various rock and pop groups — a different world for sure — but his traveling makes for great conversations when he’s in NYC.” Sam Pepe is enrolled in a master’s of social work program in Saint Paul, MN. He enjoyed an ultimate Frisbee tournament in Santa Monica, CA, in January; thousands of players from across the country spread out on the beach for 5-on-5 matches.

2001 Class Correspondents: Adam Jacobs 14 Tanglewood Lane Woodbridge, CT 06525 203-393-1760 Cassie Pagnam cassie.pagnam@gmail.com

15th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondents: Chelsea Rittchen 139 Fountain St. Apt. A9 New Haven, CT 06515-1926 203-387-8493 Jeremy Zuidema jmzuidema@gmail.com

2000 Class Correspondents: Alex Kleiner alex.m.kleiner@gmail.com Shannon Sweeney Smsweeney07@gmail.com

Shannon Sweeney married Tyson Seely on September 28, 2013 in Woodstock, VT. In attendance were several Foote alums: Matron of 36

Foote alums celebrated at the wedding of Shannon Sweeney ’00. From left, Bryan Kobelski, Caitlin Babiarz Kobelski ’00, Kara Zarchin, Erin Sweeney ’02, Rob Madden ’00, Shannon Sweeney ’00, Tyson Seely, Sadie Lieber ’00, Dan Leventhal ’00 and Holly Noble O'Brien ’79

Foote Prints

A Budding Scientist James Deng ’10 2002 Class Correspondents: Hope Fleming 47 Old Quarry Road Guilford, CT 06437 203-453-9400

Congratulations to Kate Serpe Besescheck and her husband Karl, who welcomed their first child, Colton Michael, on August 8, 2013.

Kate is working as a colorist and make-up artist at Vincent Palumbo Salon in Westport, CT. Elise Silverstone is living in Charleston, SC, and teaching second grade.

2003 Class Correspondents: Courtney Holmes msholmes@att.blackberry.net Adam Shapiro Adamshapiro1488@gmail.com

Courtney Holmes has moved to College Station, TX, where she took a job as an occupational therapist at a skilled-nursing facility.

2004 10th Reunion, May 3, 2014 Class Correspondents: Dillon Long know33@gmail.com Dana Schwartz schwa20d@mtholyoke.edu

Ross Hicks has recently moved to Cos Cob, CT, and is working for Gartner in Stamford. Leah Pepe is working as an assistant buyer at Overstock.com in Salt Lake City, UT.

2005 Class Correspondents: Gabriella Rhodeen gabriella.rhodeen@gmail.com Dan Tebes tebesd@kenyon.edu

Winter/Spring 2014

James Deng ’10 traces his fascination with chemistry back to the “sludge test” at Foote. As an eighth grader in Leslie Long’s science class, James and classmates were given a sample of mystery sludge and challenged to separate and identify its component parts. The experiment required they use skills they had learned, like distilling, purifying and using elemental flame tests to figure out what something was.

“That’s what got me interested in chemistry,” James recalls. The class didn’t just unlock his scientific curiosity, it taught him good work habits. “The amount of care I put into the lab notebook was more than good preparation for high school,” he says. Chemistry problems can be very long, he explains, and keeping good notes means he can “go deeper” in solving them.

James turned 18 in December, but already he’s a rising star in the chemistry world. During his junior year at Choate, James was one of four high school students selected out of 14,000 to represent the U.S. in the 2012 International Chemistry Olympiad. James competed with high school chemists from 74 countries, who spent a week on the campus of the University of Maryland engaged in written exams and lab tests. James earned an individual silver medal and the American team finished with a gold and three silvers. Perhaps more importantly, James says the experience was an eye-opening cultural exchange.

“It was like being an ambassador,” he says. “We had a lot more in common than we thought we did. We learned a lot about each other.”

Now a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, James has already declared chemistry his major, ensuring he’ll spend a lot of the next three and a half years in the lab — and he couldn’t be happier about it. Soft-spoken and humble, James lights up when he talks about scientific discovery, and he gives Foote a great deal of credit for guiding his passion. “It was incredibly nurturing — the teachers were always so patient.” He remembers breakthroughs in Cindy Raymond’s math class, and says Lara Anderson’s English class was the place he first let his imagination flow into his academic work. He even remembers the secret word he made up with fifth grade teacher Adam Solomon: “rongordu.”

These days, when he’s not in the lab, James enjoys singing in MIT’s Concert Choir and cooking with friends. During exam week in December, he and other members of the “MIT Lab for Chocolate Science” passed out 600 free cups of cocoa to stressed-out students.

He’s also a member of Club Chem, a group of MIT undergrads that perform sciencethemed magic shows for elementary school children around Boston. For one trick, James mixes two liquids together and pulls out a string of nylon over two feet long. The show is aimed at one thing: getting kids interested in science.

“At the end we ask, ‘Are you guys interested in science?’ and they say ‘yes!’” reports James.

James isn’t sure what direction he’ll take his career — perhaps academia. Whatever he does, he hopes his work will benefit humanity. “Science is very humane. It makes human life better,” he says. “It’s all about solving the problems of daily life, both big and small.”

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Josh Levine became a fellow in the first class of Venture for America and is now leading operations for a new healthcare startup in downtown Las Vegas called Turntable Health. He stays in close touch with many of his Foote friends and says he can’t imagine life without them.

2006 Class Correspondents: Audrey Logan logan.audrey@gmail.com Adam Gabbard adamdgabbard@yahoo.com

Graham Hebel has a new job as the desktop publisher at Newman Architects in New Haven.

2007 Class Correspondents: Kenny Kregling kkregling@snet.net Symphony Spell symphony.spell@gmail.com

Julia Paolillo taught global politics and entrepreneurship last summer in South Africa at the African Leadership Academy, where she was once a student. She is back at Middlebury College for the school year and will be headed to Kenya in the spring to study urbanization, health and human rights.

2008

2009 Class Correspondents: Chris Blackwood cblackwood@andover.edu

Class Correspondents: Lawson Buhl Lbuhl17@choate.edu

Eva Kerman edk2123@barnard.edu

Anika Zetterberg wxyzberg@comcast.net

Sarah Haddad is studying biology at Connecticut College and reports that she had an “awesome first semester!”

John LaViola is a freshman at Trinity College.

We extend our condolences to Erika von Graevenitz, whose father passed away on November 6, 2013.

2010 Class Correspondents: Brandi Fullwood brandi.n.fullwood@gmail.com Clay Pepe Cppepe13@rollins.edu

Calla Cameron has been building houses in Ecuador every summer, which has gotten her interested in running charities. She attends Claremont McKenna College, next door to Keara O’Connor, Andrew Seagraves ’09 and Kela Caldwell ’09.

Paola Pérez is partnering with her college, University of Connecticut, to film an “I’m First” video. “I’m First” is an online community founded by the Center for Student Opportunity to provide first generation college students (like Paola) support as they transition to college.

Class Correspondents: Nate Barton natebarton95@gmail.com

Kate Reilly Yurkovsky K_R_Y7@yahoo.com

Britney Dumas bdumas13@gmail.com

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In Memoriam Ward Goodenough ’32 June 9, 2013 Margaret Lincoln Bradner ’34 December 7, 2012 Anna Huntington Deming ’35 January 26, 2014 Elinor Boyzan Warburg ’45 February 23, 2014 Julia Dollard Bradford ’48, FF February 6, 2013 John Berry ’50 August 29, 2013 Brian Liburd ’81 October 5, 2013

2011

Class Correspondents: Michael Milazzo milazzom@avonoldfarms.com

Natalie Lapides is doing a rhino conservation internship in the Entabeni reserve in South Africa. She has been filming a short documentary, raising awareness about the plight of the rhino via social media, and has been raising funds for StopRhinoPoaching.com.

2013

2012 Class Correspondents: Harrison Lapides yalehockey20@comcast.net Cassidy McCarns Cassidymccarns22@gmail.com

Foote Prints

Young Alums Reunite Young Alums Day, held every year on the day before Thanksgiving, drew 91 former Footies back to campus this year for joyous reunions with old friends and teachers. Students caught up over coffee and snacks in the Twichell Room, watched a slideshow of photos form their Foote days and participated in a panel discussion for current ninth graders about their experiences in high school.

Teacher Ângela Giannella, second from right, reunites with 2011 classmates Luke Clendenen, Andrés Gonzáles and Caleb Thomas.

Grace Knight ’16 hugs John Koobatian ’14 during a reception in the Twichell Room.

From left, Aaron Baxter ’14, Tamir March ’13 and Anees Patwa ’14

Middle School Math Chair Megan Williams, second from left, with former students Anna Diffley ’13, Rachel Brennan ’13, Sophia Matthes Theriault ’14, Linda Essery ’14 and Elise Cobb ’14

Winter/Spring 2014

Members of the class of 2013: Ella Cowan de Wolf, Natalie DiMario and N’dasia Smith

Victor Joshua ’09 and sister Courtney Joshua ’14 with Tim Swensen ’09

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ALUMNI

Why I Wanted to Lead a New Child-Care Center

By Allyx Schiavone ’85 A powerful, meaningful education has the ability to transform a person. It can create a pathway for sustainability, pride and social justice. It allows us as a civilization to create effective change, challenge the status quo and contribute to our collective society.

Conversely, a poor education has the ability to strangle an individual. It can impede the self, preventing personal growth and contributing to social ills such as poverty, racism and discrimination.

Because I believe so strongly in the power of education, I pursued a career in it. I studied child development at Bank Street College of Education and worked in numerous private and public schools observing curriculum, theory and practice. As I honed my craft, I came to believe that high quality education is achieved through equal commitment to independent thought, competition, critical thinking, grit, empathy, logic, dedication, hard work, social justice and fun.

When it came time to choose a school for my own children, theories became moot. I was teaching first grade at a wonderful private school in Manhattan that had all the characteristics on my list. And yet it didn’t feel right. What I wanted for my children was what I had at Foote — a place where students are encouraged to think independently, to tackle new problems and to share knowledge with others.

Foote fostered my love of learning. It taught me to think critically and gave me tools to pursue new challenges with grace and confidence.

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As a parent, though, I chose Foote primarily for another reason: the sense of love and support that permeates this community. Friends shoulder the good and bad parts of life with us as a family. Educators go beyond teaching to look after the growth of my children’s souls. Parents give generously of their resources, time and expertise. These are the virtues I want for my children, Penn (in Grade 6) and Josie (in Grade 4), and for every child.

Most children aren’t fortunate enough to attend a school like Foote. Connecticut has the largest student achievement gap in the nation. Those of us who work in early childhood education see firsthand how that gap begins in infancy and widens in the toddler years. By the time a child enters Kindergarten, it can be nearly insurmountable.

Three years ago, I had the opportunity to join others who share the goal of providing equal access to high quality early childhood education. As the new executive director of the Friends Center for Children in New Haven, I was tasked with steering a capital campaign of $4.25 million, including the construction of a $3.7 million building to house our expansion. It was incredibly inspiring to work with others equally devoted to giving all New Haven kids the chance for a strong start.

In September 2013, Friends Center opened our pristine facility with a new mission: educate children, empower families, inspire teachers, engage community, embrace diversity.

Our building is home to a year-round progressive early childhood education program for children ages 3 months to 5 years. Our curriculum incorporates the Quaker values of peace, simplicity, truth, equality and community. We function as a cooperative, so teachers and parents have many opportunities to get to know each other as individuals. The Center offers a sliding-scale tuition system to support equal access for all families. Right now we are serving 55 children from 47 families and we will increase our enrollment to 78 in the fall.

My years at Foote, the families that have stayed with me into adulthood and my children’s current connection to the school are the most influential factors in my life. Foote taught me at a very early age that what you do matters and where you devote your resources, your skills and your energy counts. If you believe in something, be passionate about it. Each day I feel lucky as I greet the families at Friends Center, and I feel the lasting impact of my Foote education.

The Friends Center for Children in New Haven

Allyx Schiavone ’85 at the Friends Center with former Foote Head of School Frank Perrine and Leland Torrence ’68

Foote Prints

REUNION DAY 2014 Saturday, May 3

COME HOME TO FOOTE THIS REUNION DAY! Find old friends, make new ones and see how our hallmarks of innovation and tradition are celebrated today.

We look forward to seeing you!

See page 21 for more information, and look for an invitation in early April.

Foote Prints

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID New Haven, CT Permit No. 181

The Foote School 50 Loomis Place New Haven, CT 06511 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Notice: Postal regulations require the school to pay 75 cents for every copy not deliverable as addressed. Please help us contain costs by notifying us of any change of address, giving both the old and new addresses.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Reunion Day

Saturday, May 3, 2014 (see page 21)

Grandparents Day Friday, October 10, 2014

Centennial Celebration

The school is approaching its Centennial year, to be celebrated in 2015–16.

Alums are encouraged to join an open meeting of the Alumni Council on Reunion Day, Saturday, May 3, at 2 p.m. to discuss ideas and plans for the Centennial.

Volunteers — near and far — are needed. If you love Foote and would like to help in some way, please email Maria Granquist at mgranquist@footeschool.org.

Alumni, faculty and former faculty, parents, former parents and grandparents are all welcome to participate!