2019 Garrison Forest Alumnae Magazine

G arrison F orest 2019 MAGAZINE

GFS GALLERY This past year, Garrison Forest had a school record of 21 Scholastic Art Award recipients, numerous artists selected for area shows and offered its first-ever Woodworking elective.

Lucy Saper ‘19 Arielle Alexander ’19

Zoe Osgood ’20

Garrison Forest 2019 MAGAZINE

14 Women in Finance 20

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15 Years of WISE Women Global Impact: Jenkins Fellows’ 15-Year Anniversary GFS Polo: Playing Like a Girl for 40 Years May Each to Each Stand Fast: Class of 2019 Legacies

D E PA R T M E N T S Carrington George ’19

2 Letter from Chris Hughes Head of School

4 Lives of Purpose: Alumna, student and faculty accomplishments

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Farewell to the Forest

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Faculty at the Forest

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Spirit of Giving

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Class News

138 From the Archives:

Boarding Then and Now

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ords We Live By: Esse Quam Videri W

By Kit Jackson ’83, President of the GFS Board of Trustees from 2015 to 2019

>>> MORE ONLINE AT GFS.ORG/MAGAZINE ON THE COVER: Lost Ball

by Kendall Shriver ‘15

Lauren McEachin ’19 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Honorable Mention

A 2019 St. Mary’s College of Maryland graduate with a double major in environmental studies and public policy and art history, Kendall (center) is a Vermont Youth Conservation Corps member who grows food for Health Care Share to feed hospital patients with diet-related illnesses and food insecurity. “At GFS, B.J. McElderry [retired Visual Arts Department Chair] encouraged me to look for the many unexpected colors in every object or landscape and how these colors are really what bring a painting to life,” she says of her art. View her photography at society6.com/kendallshriver.

E D I T O R I A L S TA F F

DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Sarah Achenbach, Interim Editor

Mid-Atlantic Custom Media Jeni Mann, Director jmann@midatlanticmedia.com

Matthew Baran, Cool Progeny, Robin Foster, Paul Galeone Photographers, Jim Ivey, MuYao “Selina” Ma ’19, Tiffany Ogunwuyi, Darren Reese and the Tennessee Golf Association, David Stuck

Tiffany Ogunwuyi, Class News Editor, Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing tiffanyogunwuyi@gfs.org

Sherley Taliaferro, Designer

Michelle Placek, Director of Communications and Marketing michelleplacek@gfs.org

Any opinions expressed in the annual Garrison Forest Magazine are those of the authors and/or interview subjects.

Garrison Forest reserves the right to edit Class News for clarity, length and content. Class News Agents are responsible for the accuracy of their news.

SEND ADDRESS CORRECTIONS TO:

Madeline Radosevic ‘21

Garrison Forest School Alumnae Office 300 Garrison Forest Road • Owings Mills, MD 21117 • gfsalum@gfs.org • 410-559-3136

2019 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

2 L ET T E R FR O M H E A D OF S CH OOL

DEAR GARRISON FOREST COMMUNITY,

For me, this year was truly one of celebration. In July 2018, I began my first year as Head of Garrison Forest School, my first such position in my 26 years in independent school education. It has been a year of firsts for me and for the school, including receiving our first $5 million gift, the largest in GFS history. My family also celebrated a significant milestone: In May, our oldest child Jordan graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and is now enrolled at the University of Minnesota School of Law. Over the past year, I often spoke of how my transition from Minnesota to Maryland was a homecoming. I began my career in education at St. James School, a boarding school in Hagerstown, Maryland. But I was wholly unprepared for just how much coming to Garrison Forest has felt like coming home. My wife Farida and I were immediately made to feel welcome, especially when the moving van with all our belongings arrived three weeks late!

Every day I have experienced the genuine, deeply special way this community embraces one another. As Head, it has been my privilege to witness extraordinary academic, artistic, athletic, leadership and personal achievements from our youngest students to the wonderful members of the Class of 2019.

But it is the everyday moments – the smiles I get at Lower School Morning Meeting, the Seniors inviting me to sign my own cinderblock in Senior Room, the ways in which our faculty and staff support students and each other – that have taught me what community truly means.

I would like to share a few of the lessons I’ve learned since “coming home.”

LESSON #1: Connecting with each other is everything.

The Hugheses at their first-ever GFS tailgate

The core theme of my Convocation remarks and my Installation last September was home. Being part of a thriving residential life community is very much a part of what brought us back to a boarding school and a girls’ school.

Farida and I are committed to the GFS tradition of using Lochinvar as an extended home for the school community.

We have worked hard to create a homelike atmosphere for students and the entire community to enjoy our home as much as we do. We’ve hosted Seniors, parents, faculty and staff, sports teams, Prom, alumnae and more. We resurrected the Haunted House tradition and hosted a Super Bowl With Farida at their Lochinvar party for faculty and staff. Farida and I look forward Haunted House to making many more connections and memories in our new home.

A big part of home here is how deeply connected and loyal our alumnae are to Garrison Forest. Now, the phrase “True Blue” means so much more to me. As I meet more and more alumnae, I see that the GFS connection is lifelong. This level of devotion inspired GFS’s first-ever gift of $5 million to fund the new dormitory, which opens this fall, and complete the renovations for Marshall-Offutt and other initiatives. One of the things I love is that even as the school itself continues to grow and change, the spirit I see in our alumnae is exactly the same as what I see in the girls today.

LESSON #2: Embrace the big and small moments.

An important part of my job (and my favorite) is being with students. A small moment: The Lower School was not part of my Installation on September 21, 2018, so that day I spoke at their Morning Meeting. I asked them what it means to be installed, and one girl answered, “It means to put something in, like you install a dishwasher.” Now some students call me “Dishwasher Man,” a nickname that may GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

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confuse their parents but one to which I proudly answer.

As for the big moments, there are many. This year, our Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) partnership with Johns Hopkins University and the Elsie Foster Jenkins ’53 Community Service Fellowships are celebrating their 15th anniversaries. These singular programs allow our girls to explore their vast potential, to embrace an opportunity they can’t get anywhere else and to take on challenges most high schoolers don’t get to experience. Jenkins, in particular, is about broadening one’s sense of community outside of GFS, about girls exploring their passions out in the world. WISE continues to serve students with a deep interest in hard science and engineering, while also creating opportunities for students with broader interests in the behavioral sciences, the arts and public health.

Our equally singular Polo program celebrates its 40th anniversary this fall. Garrison Forest is the only girls’ school in the country to offer polo, and we’re the best high school program nationwide, a well-earned reputation that draws students to us. Today, we’re also growing our own Polo pipeline by introducing the Fourth Grade to Polo as a P.E. unit.

LESSON #3: The GFS model is the secret sauce.

Grizzly pride!

Until arriving at Garrison Forest, I had spent my entire career in middle and upper schools. For the past 17 years, I ran high schools, most of them boarding schools. While I love being with older students, spending time at the Preschool and Lower School has been a true delight, especially as the father of two grown children. I also love that Garrison Forest is a different model of a boarding school. Our vibrant day school allows all kinds of family-focused events, such as Friday Night Lights for Field Hockey games (above), tailgates, community movies, our All-School Art Walk and more. Traditional, all-boarding schools can’t match our depth of community, and our multicultural boarding community adds immeasurably to our day program.

Students at the first-ever Friday Night Lights Field Hockey game

LESSON #4: Embrace your inner Grizzly.

In one year, I have proudly accumulated: » 1 Grizzly bear tie (below, along with three “official” GFS ties, of course!) » 4 blue Grizzly bear sculptures (top left, 2 in my office and 2 at Lochinvar) » 2 Grizzly print throw pillows in my office (right) » 1 Grizzly costume, worn while leading the 2018 Halloween parade » 1 Grizzly costume for our dog Koda, worn to promote our first “Movie on the Lawn at Lochinvar,” which was Brother Bear (naturally)!

I have learned much more this past year and look forward to all that the Forest has to teach me.

It remains my great honor to serve Garrison Forest as the 12th Head of School.

Christopher A. Hughes Head of School

The Hugheses’ dogs: Aurora (left) as Wonder Woman and Koda as a Grizzly

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Sarah LeBrun Ingram ’84 to Captain 2020 USA Curtis Cup Team

Amanda Trattner ‘19 in the GFS Preschool

AMANDA TRATTNER ’19

Learning by Teaching When Amanda Trattner ’19 finished the Developmental Psychology class her junior year, she knew she wanted more. So, she worked with Jamie Roeder, GFS’s Director of Early Childhood Education, to create an early childhood education independent study. Every Thursday last fall, Amanda shadowed first-grade classes at public schools in Baltimore County and Baltimore City and at area independent schools. Mirroring college-level education field work, Amanda observed classrooms, created theme-based lesson plans and researched teaching philosophies. During the spring semester, she worked in the GFS Threes classroom, developing week-long curricula and teaching a few lessons.

“I believe in learning through questions and the curiosity of students,”says Amanda, who is majoring in psychology at Franklin & Marshall College. “I saw how complex teaching is and how teaching takes knowing your students. [My plan] is to work with kids and help with educational processes, even if it’s not in a traditional classroom.”

Three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and three-time Curtis Cup Team member Sarah LeBrun Ingram ’84 has been selected by the United States Golf Association (USGA) to captain the 2020 USA Curtis Cup Team. Sarah will lead the U.S. team of top amateur golfers against those from Great Britain and Ireland at the Curtis Cup in Wales in June 2020.

The event will be a homecomSarah LeBrun Ingram ‘84 ing of sorts for Sarah, who serves on the GFS Board of Trustees. Her grandfather was born in Wales, and her mother was born and raised in Hertfordshire, England.

A two-time All-American on the Duke University golf team, Sarah played golf as a club sport at Garrison Forest. (Golf became an interscholastic sport for GFS in 2007.)

Once ranked as the top amateur female golfer in the world, Sarah is thrilled to lead the U.S. team and to inspire the next generation of women golfers. “It is the honor of a lifetime to have been chosen by the USGA to captain the U.S. team for the 41st Curtis Cup,” says Sarah. “I look forward to all of my experiences with the team over the next year and, hopefully, to leading eight amazing young women to victory next June.”

Sarah is guaranteed at least one True Blue GFS fan on the links in Wales: USGA Women’s Committee chair Courtney McLennan Myhrum ’79. “It’s pretty cool to have two Garrison Girls involved with the USGA at the same time,” Sarah adds.

Varsity Squash Clinches Classic Plate In February, the Varsity Squash Team, with 10 players and coaches (Missy Wells, Lower School Librarian and Past Parent, and Current Parent John Blair), traveled to Hartford, Connecticut for the U.S. Squash High School Nationals, competing against 207 teams from across the country and bringing home the Division V Classic Plate. In 2018, the Grizzlies attended Nationals for the first time, competing in Division VI. This year, the team rose to Division V to become the Classic Plate Champions (fifth overall). During the three days of nail-biting matches with tiebreakers in most games, the Varsity played exceptionally well and were cheered on by alumnae attending the event.

The Varsity team at the U.S. Squash High School Nationals

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GFS Mountain Biking Team, a First for Maryland Last fall, when Garrison Forest added Mountain Biking to its roster of fall interscholastic sports, the school became the only girls’ school in Maryland to compete in the Maryland Interscholastic Cycling League, also in its first year. Avid mountain bikers Gretchen Townsend, (Parent of Sydney ‘21) and Upper School Science teacher Sue McQuiston initiated the Grizzly team, which had 10 regular participants in Grades 9-12 in its inaugural season. With much of the team playing other fall sports, the Grizzly bikers practiced in the summer and on weekends. Races against the league’s 15 other teams took place all over Maryland. Riders Audrey Glose ’20 (far right) and Molly Ianniello ’21 (second from right) were point leaders in every race in which they competed, and many members medaled. The Grizzlies also created a two-mile bike trail around the perimeter of the school for practice rides.

Members of the inaugural interscholastic GFS Mountain Biking team

Middle School Chorus’ Sweet Dynasty

2018-19 GRIZZLY IAAM ACCOLADES 2018 Varsity Field Hockey A-Conference Runners-Up 2019 Varsity Badminton

In May, the Garrison Forest Middle School Chorus received a Superior Rating at the “Music in the Parks – Hershey Park” competition, garnering its eighth consecutive “1st Place Middle School Women’s Choir” honor.

The 2018–19 Middle School Chorus poses with their trophy at Hershey Park. Kneeling at far right is Director Ginny Flynn.

The talented GFS musicians also received second place for “Top Choir.” Directed by Ginny Flynn, music teacher, the chorus performed three selections and earned impressive comments from the judges, including, “Excellent intonation, good tone and balance,” and “Every musical and dynamic control is excellent.”

A-Conference Co-Champions

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Top left: Lauren Eisele ‘21 at the Lexington Spring Encore Show; above: Cassie Edgar ‘22 at HITS Ocala; bottom left: Kathryn Obrecht ‘21, Loudon Benefit Show

Equestrian Institute: Year Two Garrison Forest continues to build upon the success of the Equestrian Institute, founded in fall 2017, by adding additional programming for its second year. As an expansion of the school’s renowned riding program, the Equestrian Institute offers customized programs for top GFS riders in Grades 6-12. Activities in 2018-19 included: visiting and touring Betsee Parker’s Farm and the New Bolton Center at Penn Vet; spectating at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show and the Devon Horse Show; competing at HITS Ocala, WIHS Regional Horse Show, Zone 3 Finals and the Loudon Benefit Show; enjoying visits with equine nutritionist Michelle Jennings and sports psychologist Dr. Marjorie Sugarman; and competing at the IEA Regionals with two of the three Institute members moving on to compete at the IEA Zones.

NCWIT Awards The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) honored Monica Vogel ’19 (far right) and Kennedy Thompson ’20 (second from left), who were named Affiliate Winners, and Serena Shafer ’19 (second from right), who earned Honorable Mention. NCWIT recognizes young high school women who are active and interested in computing and technology. At the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing award ceremony at the University of Maryland, College Park in the spring, Upper School Digital Learning Specialist Neda Blackburn (far left) also earned an Educator Honorable Mention award.

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Kennedy Thompson ’20 Earns Girl Scout Gold Award Kennedy Thompson ’20 earned the Girl Scouts’ highest honor, the Girl Scout Gold Award – the equivalent of the Boys Scouts’ Eagle Scout – for her outstanding work in the community. She planned and organized a September 2018 event where she taught computer science to local elementary school girls.

At the awards ceremony, she also received a gold pin, a citation from Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and a letter from former President Jimmy Carter, among others. In the above photo, Kennedy is pictured with Violet Apple, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland.

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CORNELIA DORR ’16

Alumnae Rider Once she learned to gallop on a horse, Cornelia Dorr ’16 rarely slowed down.

She first rode at age 4 and began eventing nationally at age 9. A boarding student from Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, she achieved her first preliminaries as a member of the Garrison Forest Eventing and Equitation teams. She and her horse Sir Patico MH, or Hugo, spent four years at GFS. (One of her favorite campus views was of the D. & J. Smith Equestrian Center from her Meadowood dorm room.)

Following graduation, she competed in the July 2016 Junior Olympics as a United States Eventing Association (USEA) North American Junior and Young Rider Championship (NAJYRC) member, helping the team win two gold medals and earning an individual silver and two bronze medals.

Today, Cornelia, 21, is one of the top young adult riders in the country in a sport that is grueling for rider and horse. She, Hugo and her other three horses excel at eventing, a triathlon event encompassing consecutive days of dressage, cross country and show jumping. Her accolades include 2017 and 2018 USEA Young Rider of the Year, 2018 USEA Young Adult Advanced Rider and selection for the United States Eventing Federation’s Emerging Athlete Eventing 25 (E25) program. Thousands of youth (and adult) riders follow her on Instagram (@corneliadorr) and on her new website (corneliadorr.wordpress.com).

Cornelia’s ability to go fast and jump high on a horse is matched only by her ability to change course smoothly and strategically. The post-GFS plan was to pursue eventing full time for a gap year before studying history at Gettysburg College. “My parents made me sign a contract that I would go back to school after a year,” says Cornelia with a chuckle.

“I broke that contract. I believe that there are different kinds of education in the world.

My goal is to make a career of eventing and be the best horsewoman I can be.”

Cornelia Dorr ‘16 and Sir Patico MH compete.

“I have taken a very unconventional path in life.

To have the confidence to do so stems from the very core of Garrison Forest values.”

She trains with renowned trainer Sharon White in Summit Point, West Virginia, and for the winter season, she trains in Florida with the E25 team. “I love being part of something that is bigger than myself,” says Cornelia, who spends her one day off a week riding her horses. “I believe that hard work can never be outmatched.”

Cornelia attributes a lot of who she is

today to the life lessons GFS taught her, particularly Esse Quam Videri. “The motto, ‘To Be Rather Than To Seem,’ sticks with me perhaps more than anything else,” she reflects. “I have taken a very unconventional path in life. To have the confidence to do so stems from the very core of Garrison Forest values.”

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FACULTY FAVORITES On-campus faculty members have been a robust part of Garrison Forest since our founding in 1910. Today, 24 teachers and administrators live on campus, providing a 24/7 “home away from home” to our boarders.

We asked a few residential life faculty what their favorite thing is (besides our students, of course).

JIM BEAM & FAMILY

Upper School Mathematics Live in duplex behind Robinswood Jim Favorite: The NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. Played goalie growing up in Cleveland.

Meghan Favorite: Gardening. Even taught hydroponics to her fifth-grade STEM class in Baltimore County.

Conrad, 12 Favorite: Baking, especially cheesecake.

Linus, 8 Favorite: Playing baseball and rooting for the Cleveland Indians.

Felix, 6 Favorite: Camping, mostly for the roasted marshmallows.

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DIJANA ISMIC

Upper School AP U.S. History and AP Psychology Lives in Lohr Hall

JODI BLACKBURN Interim Athletic Director Lives in Lohr Hall

Favorite: Her family. Husband Ted, who works in Boston, and their two grown children Anne, 21, and John, 20, love visiting GFS. Her black Lab named Blue (naturally) loves exploring the campus.

Favorite: Traveling and experiencing different cultures. She and husband Deni Vidovic were born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dijana, an avid Bosnia national football (soccer) fan, also has lived in Canada, Croatia and Germany.

(She is pictured with the Bosnian flag and wearing her team’s jersey.)

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LI VE S OF PURPOSE

COLORFUL VISIONARY DIANE YU, CHAIR, VISUAL ARTS DEPARTMENT Diane Yu, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) graduate and textile artist, is weaving innovation across Garrison Forest, embracing the school’s longstanding visual arts tradition and adding her own colorful threads.

Garrison Forest is your first job.

Was it your plan to teach here and at a girls’ school?

I was planning to teach in public school and took a part-time job here. I was most impressed with B.J. McElderry [retired Visual Arts Department Chair], the program she has grown and the culture of teachers and students who see art as a valuable tool. I just fell in love with the place. I lived on campus right away, and it became my home. In my MICA graduate teaching program, the female community we built was profound, and I grew up with strong women in my family. Here, I can give back to these communities.

You studied and teach painting.

Why the shift to textiles?

My paintings were very abstract and textural. I became intrigued with painting with thread. There is a floor loom at Garrison Forest, and I always wanted to learn how to weave. GFS’s professional development program sent me to a weaving workshop at North Carolina’s Penland School of Craft.

Describe the curricular innovations you have introduced.

Three years ago, I developed the Color Theory course inspired by my interest in the interaction between colors and design.

Students create color installations around campus with all sorts of materials. In spring 2018, I noticed that five Seniors were going to prestigious art schools, so we created Art Signing Day similar to athlete signing days.

Nine members of the Class of 2019 are majoring in art, and three are going to art school.

What makes the GFS visual arts program unique?

We’re always adapting our K-12 program to how art adapts in the real world and expanding how students think of the world.

When I began teaching at GFS in 2015, I built on the required Ninth Grade design course to explore design processes and applications. Students make logos, websites, their own textiles and more. We’re part of the national maker movement, and the Ninth Grade Art Foundations Design Lab redefines how students can be artists and makers. I team-teach the new Science of Art elective with Debbie Oleisky, Science Department Chair. For one of our trips, we went to The Walters Art Museum and explored the materials, chemicals and scientific processes used for book conservation. And [Upper School art teacher] Sarah Sachs added a Woodworking course, too.

How does living on campus affect your art and teaching?

By living and breathing the space, I get to know Garrison Forest and my colleagues and students better. It trickles down to the way I teach and do art. When I lived in Senior House, one of my favorite activities was inviting students to my apartment for tea. Before the holidays last year, my AP Portfolio class had a gift exchange at my Robinswood apartment. I have my own studio and loom in Baltimore’s Station North Arts District, with artist Farida Hughes [wife of Head of School Chris Hughes] a couple doors down in the same studio building. I’m also a member of The Walters Art Museum Teacher Advisory Committee. It’s been great getting to know artists around Baltimore.

Read more about Ms. Yu, 2019 winner of the Distinguished Teacher Award, on page 37.

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EMMA CHILDS ’14 Solo Arts Exhibition Last February, Emma Childs ’14 brought Proximity, her solo exhibition, to the Molly Mundy Hathaway Fine and Performing Arts Center. With her most recent body of work, the Maryland Institute College of Art graduate explores human connection and relationships through simplified forms and a limited color palette. In her artist talk, she further discussed how her mostly monochromatic works delve into nearness, distance, intimacy and remoteness.

Emma Childs ’14 at the Artist’s Talk in the McLennan Library

GFS WOODWORKING: GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN

Top: The first woodworking class with a few of their creations Above: Table by Sarie Keller ’19

It began with a chair. Two years ago, a student told Upper School Art teacher Sarah Sachs about an Adirondack chair her brother made in a woodworking class at an area boys’ school. “I discovered that all of the boys’ schools had woodshops,” says Ms. Sachs.

Not finding woodworking electives at any of the other area girls’ schools, Ms. Sachs gathered ideas from a nearby boys’ school, purchased a few tools to round out the existing tools in the Garrison Forest sculpture studio and set about learning to work with wood.

Supported by GFS professional development funding, Ms. Sachs spent a week last August at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Aspen, Colorado. There, she learned four new types of joinery, milled her own wood and designed and built furniture, among other skills, before launching Garrison Forest’s first-ever Woodworking elective last fall.

Ten Upper School students learned the basics of working with wood to design and construct three wood pieces. They laminated ash and mahogany to make cutting boards, carved and gauged many varieties of spoons and used joinery techniques to create table lamps. Open to Grades 10-12, the course builds on the strong design foundation courses all GFS students take in Ninth Grade and attracted several students who previously did not necessarily view themselves as “artists.” This past summer, GFS installed a dust collection/ventilation system, converting the sculpture studio into a full-blown woodshop.

The course draws on students’ STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) knowledge and hones creative problem-solving skills. “It was very empowering for the girls to solve real-world design problems,” says Ms. Sachs. Years ago, she created a sign above the sculpture studio’s power tools that reads “Empowerment Tools.” Today, it’s the perfect statement for the confidence GFS woodworkers earn by coming up with an idea, figuring out how to design it and often working with unfamiliar tools to combine form and function.

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“Seek the joy in your community, and if you can’t find the joy, make some – the kind that brings people together and binds a community.”

— Chris Hughes, Head of School

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1414x xx ILLUSTRATION TALIA GREENBERG HUDGINS

Women in

Finance Great News: Nine in 10 girls say it’s important to learn how to manage money, according to a recent survey by the Girl Scouts of America. Not so great is that only 12 percent of girls feel confident making personal financial decisions.

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inancial transactions are part of every American’s daily reality,” says Kit Jackson ’83, senior managing director and portfolio manager at First Republic Investment Management in New York and recent President of the Garrison Forest Board of Trustees. “To be financially illiterate is a tragedy, but becoming financially literate is easy.”

Empowerment comes from knowledge, not just of your potential, but in knowing what it takes to embrace it. Garrison Forest embraced this philosophy nearly a decade ago with the creation of The James Center, the overarching GFS program that brings together the school’s traditions and initiatives in leadership development, community outreach, STEM and financial literacy. The James Center’s financial literacy program offers lessons about money, budgets and investing as tools to achieve goals.

Kit, who was recently named to Barron’s list of “Top 250 Female Wealth Managers,” witnessed GFS’s financial literacy focus during her just-completed tenure as President of the Board of Trustees. “I am impressed with the programs the school has created to ensure that the next generation of women truly understands the power and importance of being financially smart.

Learning these lessons and getting girls interested in financial matters early on makes all the difference. We need more women considering finance as a career path.” “

LOWER SCHOOL FINANCIAL LESSONS At Garrison Forest, financial literacy begins early. Using children’s literature as a springboard for learning, students develop an understanding of economic vocabulary and basic economic principles.

Girls as young as Kindergarten can participate in the Lower School’s monthly banking program with M&T Bank. In 2018-19, 35 Lower School students saved their tooth fairy and allowance money with

M&T Bank. A big lesson for elementaryaged girls is distinguishing between a need and a want and creating a budget, but the Lower School also dives deep into investing, credit, diversification and careers in finance beginning in the Fourth Grade.

“Our goal is to teach our students about financial responsibility through a fun, hands-on program,” says Gail Hutton, Head of Lower Division. “Garrison Forest’s program overlays the classroom curriculum and provides an amazing leadership opportunity for our Fourth Grade students.”

“Garrison Forest is unique in providing an intensive, comprehensive, highly

experiential and ambitious financial literacy program in its Lower School,” adds Andrea Perry, the school’s Director of The James Center and Dean of Special Programs.

“Experiences that often wait until the high school years – hands-on banking, ‘playing’ the stock market – are integrated into the elementary years. This gives us a remarkable foundation for Middle School and Upper School programming that goes beyond, into areas like entrepreneurship and career planning. Creative and committed teachers weave ‘financial literacy’ into engaging and relevant learning that sticks.”

FINANCIAL FUN IN THE LOWER SCHOOL • Since 2015, Fourth Grade has managed GFS’s “Wise Bank,” a school-hosted “branch” of M&T Bank. Each month, Lower School account holders visit Fourth Grade tellers to make deposits. M&T employees conduct monthly training and financial literacy seminars for the Fourth Grade, complete with a behind-the-teller-desk visit to the Owings Mills M&T branch.

• Fourth Grade speaker series with financial experts (parents and alumnae and a video conference with the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland) that covers budgeting, saving, investing, credit, critical thinking, the stock market and more.

• Fourth and Fifth Grade participation in the statewide Stock Market Game, competing against other elementary school teams in Maryland. Working in groups, they “invest” and manage a virtual portfolio of $100,000 using the same tools and techniques real investors use to research stocks: Yahoo! Finance; P/E ratio; earnings per share; 52-week range; current events; etc.

• Investwrite, an expository and vocabulary program that corresponds to the Stock Market Game. Fourth Grade students write essays on the stock market. Last fall, one of the GFS students placed 10th nationally for her Investwrite essay.

• Financial field trips to Towson University’s T. Rowe Price Finance Lab, a trading floor classroom, for a stock market lesson taught by an economics professor (Fourth Grade) and the annual trip for Fourth and Fifth Grades to JA BizTown, a simulated city economic experience sponsored by Junior Achievement of Maryland. Students are assigned various BizTown jobs – CFO, bank president, restaurant owner, real estate agent, etc. and the elected positions of mayor and deejay – for a daylong immersion into the realities of how the economy works. GFS is joined on the field trip by the fourth- and fifth-grade classes from Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, adding another real-world dimension. (Prior to the trip, there’s a school-sponsored “playdate” with icebreakers with the boys.)

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Fourth Grade students researching stocks

A PROJECT INNOVATE! CASE STUDY: STICKERS & STUFF STARTUP The 2019 winning Project Innovate! (PI) team of Seventh Graders Kylie BeckermanBerman, Rayah Howell and Reilly Sullivan applied the same skills M.B.A. students use when developing a business model and plan. To create their subscription box service, Stickers & Stuff, they: • researched two of the digital and retail world’s biggest trends – subscription-box services and pop-up shops – and reimagined them for a middle school market; • surveyed the market to determine inventory wants, price points and distribution options; • researched cost-effective ways to create and distribute their product; • developed, designed and produced a product sample based on their research; • created a marketing plan for advertising and retail options, which includes both a subscription-box service delivered to the Middle School and a pop-up shop; • presented their startup to the PI judges.

The winning Project Innovate! group presents its Stickers & Stuff business plan to the judges.

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MIDDLE SCHOOL MONEY MATTERS Faculty and administrators in the Middle School see the fruit of the Lower School’s early financial literacy lessons in a GFScreated program called Project Innovate!

(PI). Since 2015, the Seventh Grade has participated in PI, which is modeled on the popular TV show Shark Tank, where business owners pitch ideas to a panel of investor judges. For PI, each team of students comes up with a challenge to address that affects the Middle School or greater GFS community, brainstorms solutions and pitches its startup idea to a GFS panel of judges.

“This year’s students were much more aware of budgetary restrictions and were able to develop multitiered proposals that included expensive, ideal options along with more affordable alternatives,” says Shannon Schmidt, Head of Middle School.

“It has become harder to choose a PI winner because the girls have thoughtfully created multifaceted proposals with some no-cost, low-cost and more expensive options. At this point, many ideas from each of the projects are being adopted, even if the entire project is not being implemented.”

The 2019 PI winners, Stickers & Stuff, developed a plan to market a sticker subscription box to students in various divisions and have families commit to and pay for each box up front. “It was great to see them think through how to keep startup costs minimal for the Middle School while brainstorming how to make the boxes attractive to students, affordable to families and profitable for the school,” Mrs. Schmidt explains.

Adds Reilly Sullivan, one of Stickers & Stuff ’s project team members, “It was a balancing process between cost and desired profit margin goal. The most important financial lesson I learned was it takes money to make money, and you have to research, strategize and sometimes modify a business plan.”

Next spring, Lindsay Kelland, the Instructional Technology Department Chair and Middle School Digital Learning Specialist, will launch GF$, Inc., an Eighth Grade elective focused on creating a

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business and learning about business practices. “We’re going to look at marketing our idea, all financial components, etc.,” says Mrs. Kelland, who has an undergraduate business degree and is certified to teach business education. The class will go well beyond business theory, actually forming a business, with any profits supporting a class trip or endof-year activity.

FINANCIALLY SAVVY UPPER SCHOOLERS The Lower School and Middle School financial literacy lessons feed into Upper School life in numerous, purposeful ways.

Older students debate how to spend the Junior Class Ring Dance funds and create a budget for a club activity or for their Jenkins Fellows applications. They research the interplay of economics and public health in the Half the Sky: International Perspectives on Women, Gender and Health elective. In another elective, Economics: Making ¢ents of Personal and Global Financial Literacy, students dive

deeper into their financial literacy and the factors that influence the global economy.

Through the College Counseling Office, all sophomores participate in the Career Explorations program that gives students tools to consider career paths that address broad elements related to finance, including educational requirements and earning potential.

Students in the junior- and senior-year Decision Making and Transitions classes explore financial issues related to college choice and college life, hear from finance experts and have finance-related options for their Independent Senior Project.

Going full circle, some become alumnae who return to the Upper School for Career Day. Through life prep and career prep, Garrison Forest’s in-depth focus on financial literacy teaches early-on financial concepts, vocabulary and applications to create women who are financially literate and financial leaders.

That’s a philosophy that can change the world.

The Buck Shouldn't be Stopping HerE:

54.5% of the 2018 U.S. financial services industry were female.

YET ONLY

12.2%

of CFOs in the top 20 global financial services firms are women

and ONLY

13%

of hedge fund and private equity firms are run by women CEOs.

There’s a

“Wise Bank” tellers assist a customer.

“Garrison Forest is unique in providing an intensive, comprehensive, highly experiential and ambitious financial literacy program in its Lower School.”

24%

first-promotion gap between women and men despite women asking for comparable promotions. For women of color, that gap jumps to 34 percent.

Source: Catalyst (catalyst.org/research/womenin-financial-services/)

–Andrea Perry, Director of The James Center and Dean of Special Programs

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Women in Finance ANNIE HARVEY ’07 Vice President, Wealth Management Division, Brookfield Public Securities Group B.A., Public Policy and Law, Trinity College Finding her fit: I wanted a career that would give me a basic understanding of how the world works. Finance is a platform I can build on. Part of the allure for me is that I didn’t know much about it.

My first job was in sales for a small financial company.

RIKKI PELTA ’05, ESQ. Legislative Analyst, American Council of Life Insurers B.A., History, Franklin & Marshall College J.D., American University Washington College of Law

Biggest reward: I love finding clients I align with and providing them with a good product [to invest in]. My learning curve is endless, but that’s a good thing. Information is always evolving. My biggest fear is being caught flat-footed. I like that I am held accountable by my clients and need to provide them with the best service.

Finding her fit: I went to law school knowing a law degree was versatile, but it took some trial and error. I worked with a different trade association, but it wasn’t a great fit.

I wasn’t necessarily interested in the life insurance industry, but the good part is most people come in with no background, and I could learn on the job.

Best advice: Get out there as much as you can and network. I always hated hearing that because it was a little awkward, but I wish I had started earlier. We have a great GFS alumnae network [see GFSConnect, inside back cover]. Offer coffee or lunch or schedule a phone call. If you’re still interested, pursue an internship, a summer job or an Independent Senior Project (ISP).

Learn as much as you can to decide if it’s something you like.

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COURTNEY MULLIN ’13 Investor Relations Associate, Greenspring Associates B.A., Business Administration, Loyola University Maryland Sellinger School of Business and Management Finding her fit: My father works in finance, so I grew up hearing about what he did, but at GFS I never thought that I would be in finance. I thought I

didn’t have the technical or math skills.

In college, I took a business class and realized that the field was much broader. I’ve always thought of myself as a people person. I didn’t think that there were those types of people in finance, but I was wrong. I’ve wound up with a blend of the technical reporting process and general communications.

And I love that in venture capital, we are financing ideas and companies that are changing the way we live and work.

Best advice: I am in an environment where there is so much emphasis on diversity. I work with a lot of women, which is super helpful to me. Sexism still exists in the financial field, but Greenspring Associates has made an intentional commitment to female leadership. When looking for a career, give yourself time to explore. Your needs and interests will grow.

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Women in Finance TALLI CROKER OXNAM ’90

M.C. HOOPER ERNST ’04 Vice President, Airline Underwriting Department Manager, U.S. Aviation Underwriters, Inc. B.A., Psychology, Vanderbilt University M.B.A., St. John’s University, The Peter J. Tobin College of Business

Senior Vice President and LPL Program Manager, Wye Financial Trust B.A., Communications and Media Studies, University of Puget Sound Finding her fit: I ran a family construction business for almost 20 years. I started off budgeting project management and human resources and became chief operating officer.

If you know your numbers and have a financial plan, you can make a lot of things happen. Finance is about relationships and dealing with one of the most intimate things people have: their money.

Best advice: Look for finance in lots of different areas. You don’t have to work for a financial firm. So much is possible if you look for the opportunities. If you’re fascinated by the pharmacy or theater fields but don’t want to be a pharmacist or an actor, you can run the finances behind it. And as soon as you get your first job, get into the 401(K) plan.

Finding her fit: I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do out of college. I applied for a Waddell Fellowship, which is offered to three women every year to work in London in the aviation insurance marketplace. I ended up getting it and worked as an underwriting assistant at Lloyd’s of London. I went in not knowing anything about insurance and aviation and came out absolutely loving it. Aviation insurance is something that will always be needed.

Best advice: Don’t take a job because it looks fun or offers a short-term promise.

Look at where you want to be in 10 to 20 years. Find a viable mentor. Be on the lookout for what‘s coming next for your industry and for technology. If you know what’s on the cusp, you will continue to provide value. Never lose the confidence you gained at Garrison Forest. Having the confidence to adapt, learn, interact with others and make a path for myself is a massive strength in a male-dominated industry.

MAKEDA NOCK ’11, C.P.A. Senior Accountant, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Institute of Human Virology B.A., Accounting and Psychology, Mount St. Mary’s University M.B.A., Liberty University Finding her fit: At GFS, I wanted to be in psychology and work with children. In college, I had a friend who took an accounting course, and she let me look at her book. I like structure, and psychology had little structure, so I double majored in accounting and psychology. In the financial field, there isn’t a single tool that won’t help you for life.

Biggest reward: I’m not crunching numbers all day. Our institute conducts research and finds cures for infectious diseases. I help manage large federal and foundation grants. Visiting countries where we are doing work is incredible – I’m watching funds get used for real work to save lives. My parents always instilled in me the idea that if you have knowledge, use it to help others.

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F O S R A E 15 Y

N E M O W

In 2004, Garrison Forest tested a bold hypothesis: If determined young women are matched with mentors in Johns Hopkins University’s world-class research labs, then students’ interest in college majors and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) will increase.

Garrison Forest’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) partnership with Johns Hopkins University put this hypothesis to the test – and has been proving it again and again since the first WISE “class” entered Hopkins labs 15 years ago.

WISE students spend two afternoons a week at Hopkins, typically for one semester, completely immersed in research with professors and graduate students. For high school-aged women curious about STEM, it doesn’t get any more hands-on or real world without an advanced degree.

And like any scientific endeavor, the results of one experiment shape new inquiries. Over the years, WISE has added public health, social sciences, STEM-heavy humanities projects and more, as more students than ever before prove the hypothesis.

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DR. ZEBIB ABRAHAM ’07 Attending psychiatrist, Mount Sinai World Trade Center Clinic, New York City B.S., Neurology and Physiology, minor in English, University of Maryland M.D., Weill Cornell Medical College

“Being exposed to lab environments and what research actually looks like, as a high school student, is an entirely unique experience. I participated in research from the ground up to the way an abstract question is translated into a research study. My experience in medicine as a young black woman of color has been good. If you are underrepresented then you bring an invaluable perspective and necessary representation to wherever you study or work. Places with less representation need us.”

“Exposing young women to hands-on research allows them to not only observe how research is being done, but also take part in it, to ‘un-mystify’ the complex subjects in the classroom and demonstrate the limitless discoveries that can be made by STEM.” – Dr. Sharon Gerecht • Mentor to 10 WISE students since fall 2008 • Professor and director, Institute for NanoBioTechnology • Croft Faculty Scholar • Departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Materials Science Engineering, Oncology and Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University

2006 WISE project: conducted research to determine what knowledge children are born with vs. learned through discovery.

JILLIAN EPSTEIN ’09 Process engineer/supervisor, Micron, Inc. B.S., Chemical Engineering, Miami University, where she led the University’s Engineers Without Borders chapter to design and implement water systems in Ecuador M.S., Materials Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University

“Prior to WISE, I had no idea that engineering even existed. At WISE, I loved generating new ideas from the concepts I learned from my fellow researchers, scientific literature and my science classes to make new discoveries. At Micron, I help design and characterize materials for memory chips. I am happiest when I am learning and creating, so pursuing an engineering career was the best way that I could combine my fascination with science with my desire to develop solutions that would improve people’s quality of life.”

2007-08 WISE Project: manipulated 3D microcontainers intended mainly for drug delivery systems, using small organisms to propel these small-scale structures.

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260

WISE students to date

128

WISE Mentors to date

24,390

research hours by WISE students at Johns Hopkins

52%

of Class of 2019 did WISE, the highest class percentage to date

89%

of Class of 2019 WISE students are bound for STEM-related majors

83%

of WISE students from 2013-18 agreed they received “very much” guidance from a STEM practitioner, according to a JHU Center for Educational Outreach survey

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

“Near-peer mentoring for young women in STEM fields is important because STEM fields remain dominated by males. Being comfortable in the field by developing a trusting relationship with a mentor is one way to overcome that dynamic.”

– Christine Newman, M.B.A. • WISE advocate since 2009 • Assistant Dean, Center for Educational Outreach Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering

AMANDA HALLOCK ’12 Public Policy graduate student, Harvard University B.A., Philosophy, minor in Political Science, University of Pennsylvania M.P.P., concentration in Social and Urban Policy, Harvard University, John Kennedy School of Government, expected May 2020 Work experience includes Philadelphia’s Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity and the Center for Hunger-Free Communities

“Through WISE, I realized that I was most interested in data that impacts social services. As a public policy graduate student, I have courses in economics, statistics and computer science. There is a stark gender difference in graduate school, and I’ve learned that it is always important to seek out spaces with other women who are interested in STEM. Seek out spaces that support you and spaces that challenge you. The balance is important.”

2010 WISE Project: mastered 3D imaging software to manipulate and align anatomical images and created tutorials for lab team’s use in its focus on computer-generated interventional medicine, medical robots and surgical assistance.

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PASSING THE STEM TORCH: Jennifer Lawrence ’85 and Josie Tidmore ‘20

LENA WARRAK ’14 Research assistant, Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University, 2018-19 Co-founder and President, Rommy’s Charitable Organization, a nonprofit founded in her brother’s memory that works with Syrian children who are orphans, refugees or underprivileged for health education and vaccinations.

B.A., Public Health Science and Spanish, University of Maryland

“WISE gave me a way to take what I was learning in class outside into a lab. I wanted to combine the hard sciences with a humanities twist by using my Spanish. I’ve taken lots of chemistry and biology classes and learned how to apply that in a community setting. I want to do epidemic prevention to reduce the risk of infection on a larger scale. I love doing hands-on work with patients, sharing information and making a difference.”

2013 WISE Project: built 3D computers and miniaturized, self-assembling devices capable of computation.

Josie Tidmore ’20 and Dr. Jennifer Lawrence ’85 at Josie’s Cum Laude induction this past spring

Dr. Jennifer Lawrence ’85 knows the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine well. It’s where she received her medical training in internal medicine and endocrinology and completed her internship and residency before her fellowship at Harvard.

This past year, her daughter Josie Tidmore ’20, a Legacy Scholar from Georgia, spent a semester walking those same halls.

As a WISE student in the School of Medicine’s Pluznick Lab (Physiology), Josie researched the physiologic function of sensory receptors found in the kidneys and their relationship to other organs. Next spring, she hopes to return to the lab for her Independent Senior Project.

Josie’s WISE project is a passion project. Her brother suffers from a rare form of kidney-liver disease, and Josie is a fierce advocate for him and for educating others about his condition, Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1, for which there is no cure. When she’s not leading GFS as President of the School or on the tennis court, Josie is raising funds and awareness for the Oxalosis & Hyperoxaluria Foundation (OHF). Last year, she organized two “Water Runs,” unique OHF fundraisers with runners, water squirters and prizes, raising more than $6,000.

“It’s rewarding to see Josie discover the wonder of application of scientific questions through WISE. The fact that this opportunity happened on a campus where I was introduced to medicine is doubly rewarding. Her experience has opened up a world of discovery and confidence in natural sciences for her.”

– Dr. Jennifer Lawrence ’85

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3 2 1

5 4

15 Years.

82 Jenkins Fellows.

31 countries and communities.

100s of lives impacted.

Service by the 15th-Anniversary Jenkins Fellows, Summer 2019 1

Lauren Blagmond ’21 and Shivani Sidh ’21 Taught at Bibi Fatima Junior High School and donated school supplies in Khurja, India

2

Kean “Aurora” Yin ’21 Worked in women’s education and childcare in Rabat, Morocco

3

Danielle Garten ’20 and Haley Nickel ’20 Designed and led summer day program for children (grades K-2) living in shelters for homeless families in Baltimore area

4

MuYao “Selina” Ma ’20 Improved public health in Bogo City, Dakit, Cebu, Philippines by conducting house-to-house surveys, performing clinical screenings and promoting awareness of the carcinogenic properties of smokeless tobacco

5

Tiffany Yang ’20 and Jinghua “Amy” Zhang ’20 Worked with children with cerebral palsy in Shanghai, China

Happy Anniversary, Jenkins Community Service program! Since 2004, Garrison Forest students have been the change they wish to see in the world as Jenkins Fellows. Named for Elsie “Muffie” Foster Jenkins ‘53, the Jenkins program continues to enrich the school’s enduring traditions of service and outreach.

GARRISON FOREST FOREST SCHOOL SCHOOL 2019 2019 GARRISON

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A Glimpse at Past Jenkins Projects:

Mo Smalley ’08 worked in Thailand in rice fields and refugee camps.

Naya Frazier ’12 taught guitar and worked in an orphanage in Senegal.

Rachel Peichert DeSanto ’10 worked on public health issues in Malawi, including distributing and installing mosquito nets donated by GFS to prevent malaria.

Sofia Maranto ’16 worked with elders and children on a Northern Cheyenne Indian reservation in Montana.

“Jenkins Fellows spread their wings into a different life, which requires research, organization, imagination and responsibility.

Every Fellow has called it a life-changing experience.”

— RELIE GARLAND BOLTON ’53, DONOR, JENKINS COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAM

Milan Sulibhavi ’18 worked in women’s and children’s health clinics in India.

Ziqian “Ciara” Tang ’20 (left) and Xinran “Jenny” Zhao ’20 taught English and cared for elephants on a Sri Lankan elephant farm.

The Jenkins Endowment Fund for Community Service supports: Service League community outreach programs Annual speaker event ■ Jenkins Fellows: four to six sophomores, juniors and seniors who conduct immersive summer service annually ■ ■

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Lindsey Morris ‘22 playing for Garrison Forest in the Arena Women’s Challenge Tournament Finals against Seneca Polo Club, June 9, 2019, at Seneca Polo Club in Poolesville, Maryland GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

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Girl

PLAYING LIKE A FOR 40 YEARS

W

hat began in 1979 as the only girls’ school polo program in the country remains exactly that. And then some.

Long recognized as a polo powerhouse, GFS Polo has more national championships than any other girls’ team since the creation of the United States Polo Association (USPA) Girls’ National Championships in 1991.

Numerous former players are among the best college and USPA players and coaches in the country.

For the past four decades, Garrison Forest’s teams of high school players routinely beat women’s and coed college teams and adult, women’s and coed polo clubs – an accomplishment hardly surprising to anyone familiar with the Garrison Forest spirit.

Happy 40th Anniversary, GFS Polo!

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Coach Dan Colhoun with the GFS Polo team in 1981

14 7 4

Girls’ National Championships

championships in the first 10 years of the Girls’ Division

GFS alumnae selected for prestigious Team USPA

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

B

efore Garrison Forest Polo’s many national championships. Before its international name recognition.

Before Lower School students were clamoring to get a mallet in their hands, there was Dan Colhoun.

The founding father of GFS Polo, Dan grew up playing polo. He loved the fast pace of the game and thinking and reacting with lightning speed. (Mind you, done while galloping up to 30 miles per hour on a horse in a throng of other riders while swinging a long mallet.) He loved the connection between horse and player, the camaraderie of his teammates.

And, like most parents, he couldn’t wait to share his passion with his children.

Dan Colhoun III, Julie Colhoun Deford ’79 and Martha Colhoun Williams ’85 grew up riding and foxhunting with their mother Julie Fisher Colhoun ’51, but had never played polo. In summer 1979, Dan, a founding member of the University of Virginia’s men’s polo team, enrolled his older two children in a weeklong polo camp in Charlottesville.

Daughter Julie immediately began begging her father to start a team at Garrison Forest.

By fall 1979, with the blessing of then-new Head of School Aggie Underwood, Garrison Forest Polo became a reality.

Polo may be the sport of kings, but for Dan, who volunteered as the coach of the GFS team from 1979 until 1986, it was the sport of connections.

“Friends of mine who had polo ponies parked them at GFS,” he recalls. “Before I could take the girls and put them against a college team, I needed to be confident they could play. You get better when your competition is better than you are, so I got my friends to come and teach and play with the team.”

In 1981, the GFS Polo team was ready to compete, playing its first matches against Cornell University and the University of Virginia. A year later, the team advanced to the semifinals in the USPA Open National Interscholastic Tournament.

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Polo Training Foundation Player of the Year Award Winners: Interscholastic Award Winners • 1995: Sara Gompf-Orthwein ’95 • 1998: Melissa Riggs ’98 • 2001: Arabella Knox Brockett ’01 • 2004: Lila Gaines ’04 • 2008: Meg Greenhalgh Pryde ’08 • 2009: Kylie Sheehan ’09

Intercollegiate Award Winners

From left: Julie Colhoun Deford ’79, Julie Fisher Colhoun ’51 and Dan Colhoun. The Colhouns continue to support GFS Polo, most recently with the renovations to the Sheridan Polo Arena.

“There was more enthusiasm and grasp of play than I ever imagined would happen,” Dan says. “The kids took it very seriously.”

Through the mid-1980s, the team’s national reputation and opponents grew, and part-time (paid) coaches helped with the team, which now included Dan’s daughter Martha. (Decades later, granddaughter Kate Williams ’18 would make it three generations of Colhouns and GFS Polo.) In 1987, Cindy Halle, a standout player from the University of California Davis, became the school’s first full-time coach, and Dan stepped into the national polo world. Named chairman of the USPA’s Intercollegiate/ Interscholastic Program in 1985, Dan founded the Girls’ Division for the Interscholastic program in 1991.

Dan, who served in many USPA capacities for the USPA and Polo Training Foundation, won the prestigious Hugo Dalmar Award in 2002 for his exemplary sportsmanship and contributions to polo. He’s proud of each accomplishment, but when asked about his founding role with Garrison Forest Polo, his pride grows as wide as his smile. “The school is known worldwide as a source of very talented players, and girls don’t have to wait until college to play,” he says.

He has lots of memorable moments over the years, but one stands out. “I remember handing the Colhoun Trophy to the 1992 GFS National Championship team at the University of Virginia. That was a fulfilling moment,” says Dan.

• 1987: Clarissa Cantacuzene Echezarreta ’83 University of Virginia • 1990: Loring Piper ’86 Skidmore College • 1993: Bess Worrall Wildman ’89 University of Virginia • 2002: Melissa Riggs ’98 Cornell University • 2013: Posey Obrecht ’09 University of Kentucky • 2015: Jenny Schwartz ’11 Virginia Tech • 2016: Anna Winslow Palacios ’12 Cornell University

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A Coaches’ Conversation:

CINDY HALLE AND JENNY SCHWARTZ ’11

Girls’ Tournament, you then competed against the boys and coed teams in the Open Division. In 1998, Kelly [Wells] coached GFS to win that championship, the first time an all-girls’ team won it. Then, the Girls’ Tournament got so big and competitive that it became a stand-alone tournament.

Now, GFS has a Lower School Polo program with P.E. polo classes, community polo in the evening and community outreach.

We started that through the Middle Grades Partnership program in 2011 and, since 2016, have participated in Charm City Youth Polo, a program by The City Ranch to teach life skills and leadership to Baltimore youth through polo. And we developed a polo program for non-GFS students to compete as the West Shore Polo team using our horses and facilities. Since the [D. & J. Smith] Equestrian Center was built, the polo ponies have dedicated stalls. We used to do everything out back in one shed for feed and another for tack.

Cindy Halle (left), GFS Polo Coach for 21 years

W

e sat down with retired GFS Coach Cindy Halle, the program’s first full-time coach, who led the program for 21 years, and current Coach and Director of Polo Jenny Schwartz ’11, herself a product of the GFS Polo program and on two national championship teams, for their take on what has made the program so successful for so long.

How has the Garrison Forest Polo program evolved?

Cindy Halle: When I first arrived, there was one interscholastic tournament and only a few high school teams to compete against.

The number of teams increased when the USPA redefined interscholastic team eligibility. In 1991, Dan and Julie [Colhoun] created a separate USPA Girls’ National Interscholastic Tournament in addition to the existing Open Interscholastic Tournament. The other girls teams were not as competitive as GFS, so in order for the best girls’ team to get a true challenge, it was set up that if you won the GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

Jenny, you played here. Tell us about the evolution you’ve seen.

Jenny Schwartz: When I graduated, the program was three times its size. Internal recruitment was huge, and we started doing a lot more traveling. I came to GFS to play polo in Ninth Grade. Cindy and Emily [Dewey, Assistant Coach] made us want to be part of competitive teams. I didn’t know that I would be playing at a national level in my sophomore year, but that year, I was the alternate when we won the national title. It was incredible to be part of that environment and to play at that level with people who are now my peers in the industry. It made me want to be better.

By my senior year, I was captain, and we won the championship against the Maryland Polo Club.

What did you learn about yourself playing polo at Garrison Forest? What has it given you?

Jenny: Everything! It made me a leader. It made me want to make polo my career. It taught me everything about responsibility and commitment. In my senior year, we were undefeated in qualifying games but not because we were that much better. We just worked really hard together. I learned what it means to be a team from GFS Polo. The experience and networking have been everything. Wherever Cindy could get us a game, we went. I met coaches from all over the country, which set me up really well when I went to Virginia Tech [for college] and started the polo program there. I was able to call a coach that I had met along the

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Jenny Schwartz ‘11 (third from right), Director of Polo, and Kaycie Campbell, Assistant Director of Polo, with the 2018-19 Varsity Team

way through GFS. The reputation of Garrison Forest really helps when you are in polo and trying to make a name for yourself.

Cindy: Someone told me, “I’ve seen a lot of Garrison players over the years, and I can tell you that every single one is responsible and hardworking. I’ve never seen bad sportsmanship from any of them.” With GFS Polo, people know you have good horsemanship, are responsible and are a team player. That is what I’ve always emphasized and what Jenny emphasizes. When you put that jersey on, you’re not just representing a team name, you are representing a school and a community and a tradition.

What are other hallmarks of the program?

Cindy: Inclusivity. We’re all playing the same sport. There is an expectation for the better players to help the newer players and encourage them. This is one of those few sports where you can have different genders, different levels and different ages all on the field at the same time. There is no other team sport where you could have three generations in the same place. That has been a core component of GFS Polo.

Jenny: A unique thing I have noticed is, and I took it all for granted when I was here, the fact that Garrison has everything here. Polo is based on renting horses and paying chukker fees.

In interscholastic polo, teams invited to come play typically reciprocate, but many teams can’t. GFS is able to host these games and these teams. The infrastructure is here, so we can give games to teams who wouldn’t otherwise be able to play.

When I founded the Virginia Tech Polo Club, we had to

rely on the generosity of other teams. We came here to play. To us, it meant everything. We couldn’t give people games at Tech.

I coached for the first three years, but the first time I got to play with the [Tech] team was my senior year. It was my favorite game I ever played, because they were good teammates and could help me. We almost beat the University of Kentucky and two GFS alums, who were my former teammates here.

Cindy: The support of the school and the athletic and riding department is huge. Polo is valued. It makes this school different from all the other private girls’ schools, and it’s an integral part of the school.

Tell us about the Garrison Forest polo network.

Jenny: It’s so strong! So many of my GFS teammates are still in polo. I didn’t think that we would be in constant communication, all working in polo. It’s pretty crazy. When I call people in polo not connected with the school, they are always willing to help because of our reputation. In high school, someone said to me, “You always know the Garrison Forest girl in the barn at a tournament because she is never standing still; she’s the first one to jump into the arena to help, to lend a hand.” That’s been the number one thing for me to try to uphold, to keep that reputation. It’s been building for decades. A big part of that reputation is our amazing horses.

Cindy: We take care of the horses the right way; that’s why we get such incredible donated horses. People want to give horses they care about to this program.

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Cindy: Some of the most gratifying moments haven’t come from winning national championships. They’ve come from a timid kid on Third Team who all of a sudden finds her voice, and you hear her go, “I’ve got it!” That’s huge! That’s a national championship for that particular person.

All these other teams can draw from a much wider pool of players. We’re whoever is here. Girls have a chance to play at Garrison Forest, and when can they do that again? They have fun doing it, and if they never play again, I’m OK with that. We’re developing young women, not just polo players.

What’s the vision for the next 40 years?

Jenny: Grow! It’s a big program now, but Kaycie [Campbell, Assistant Director of Polo] and I are committed to being here.

We introduced a semester-long Lower School Polo P.E. last spring. We have Fourth Grade come once a week for the entire season as a P.E. elective. We had four girls, and this year, we’re adding Fifth Grade. I want an army of little children [playing polo].

Jenny Schwartz ‘11 (bottom row, second from right) and fellow GFS Polo players in 2010

What is the constant thread over the past 40 years of GFS Polo?

Cindy: You can always spot a Garrison Forest player because of how she plays and the character she has. It’s the atmosphere of Garrison Forest. The school’s values are represented in the Polo program. As a coach, you’re not going to put up with any bad behavior. You’re going to make sure that your kids work hard, pull their weight, and if they don’t, there are consequences.

Jenny: Another part of the program is the chores. We have to take care of the horses. The kids are responsible for knowing what is going on with their horses. They feed and water them. They know what’s best for our horses, and they want what’s best. It was one of the top priorities when I played, and it still is.

What have been some of your most meaningful moments coaching GFS Polo?

Jenny: There is so much talent here and not winning is really hard. This year, Varsity finished their season with huge smiles and was so proud of how far they’d come and how they handled their loss; they were gracious. The things that everyone was saying about them, that was their big win. When the kids are the ones at the end of the game, after a loss, saying, “That was awesome!” then that’s great.

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

Cindy Halle (far right) and Kaycie Campbell (left) with the 2017 Varsity Team and Girls’ National Champions

Depending how the new Fourth and Fifth Grade daytime P.E. goes this year – we already have Fifth Grade as an afterschool program – we could potentially add Third Grade.

Expanding the year-round program is huge, too. We traveled this past summer to Poolesville, Maryland to experience grass polo.

I have such vivid memories of being here making jokes while tacking horses, just hanging out with friends.

Cindy: That’s what you hold dear. The scores fall in your memory, but the relationships you make with your teammates and your coach end up being the most important.

xxx

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The first Alumnae-Student Polo match was held in 1985, kicking off an annual Alumnae Reunion Weekend tradition still going strong.

Pictured: the 1985 Alumnae team (above) and Erika Daneman Slater ’88 (right) at the 2019 match

The 1998 Varsity Team won both the USPA Girls’ National Interscholastic Championship and the USPA Open National Interscholastic Championship, the only all-girls’ team to ever win the Open National Interscholastic Tournament.

Pictured with Coach Kelly Wells.

The 2011 USPA Girls’ National Interscholastic Champions holding the Colhoun Cup, pictured with Coach Cindy Halle (far left), Julie Fisher Colhoun ‘51 (second from left) and Emily Dewey, Assistant Polo Coach (far right).

The GFS Middle Grades Partnership summer program, modeled after Philadelphia’s successful polo outreach program Work to Ride, provided leadership and self-confidence training for Baltimore City public middle school girls from 2010 to 2015.

GFS created a popular Lower School P.E. rotation for Polo, Riding and Dance for Fourth and Fifth Grades.

40th Anniversary of Polo at Garrison Forest

Saturday, October 26 | 3 PM – 6 PM | Sheridan Polo Arena Co-Chairs: Melissa Chiasera, Parent of Gabby ’22 and Sophia ‘25, Sara Gompf-Orthwein ’95

Visit gfs.org/events for details.

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May Each to Each Stand Fast:

“The biggest thing is the connection that it’s created between us. I am most excited to be an alumna with her.

So much has changed from when she was a student, and yet, so much has stayed the same.”

— LIZZIE BARATTA ’19, GFS since Threes, President of the School, Legacy Scholar and boarder, Swarthmore College

From left: Emily Gardner Baratta ‘88, Lizzie Baratta ‘19, Ali Baratta ‘17

“I feel so blessed that both my girls were able to attend GFS and be lifers.

The fact that all three of us share the school and are now alumnae is remarkable to me. We are bonded by our love of Garrison Forest and what it gave us.”

From left: Lizzie (Fours), Emily and Ali (First Grade) in 2005

— EMILY GARDNER BARATTA ‘88

Kimberly Hubbard Cashman ‘85 and Hadley Cashman ‘19

“To share the GFS connection with my mom is really meaningful.

It’s cool that we both get to experience Senior Skits, Ring Week and being on the same spirit team.

Go, Darks!”

— HADLEY CASHMAN ’19,

GFS since Sixth Grade, Washington and Lee University

“It has been a real joy watching my

and sat in the same Garland Theater, and that we will always share GFS, and get to spend reunions together is really awesome!

The constant between her time and mine is the closeness between the faculty and the students. Teachers are willing to take the time to make sure the experience is positive, just as they did for me.”

girls thrive at Garrison Forest.

There are several traditions that we’ve shared, but there are newer traditions that Hadley’s loved, such as Hadley and sister the Halloween Amanda ’24 on their Haunted House, first day at GFS in 2012 the senior BBQ and Prom at Lochinvar.”

— LISA DOWLING COSTELLO ‘89

— KIMBERLY HUBBARD CASHMAN ‘85

Lisa and Lilly on Lilly’s first day at GFS in 2015

“Knowing that she walked the same halls Lilly Costello ‘19 and Lisa Dowling Costello ‘89

“Being able to reminisce with my mom about her favorite GFS traditions and then add my own memories has been amazing! She has definitely instilled me with that classic GFS spirit!”

— LILLY COSTELLO ’19, GFS since Ninth Grade, Philip Jensen Award, Princeton University GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

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“My mom is my inspiration. I wanted to wear my mom’s ring because it has so much sentimental value to me. It has her initials and graduating year on one side and my initials and graduating year right next to it. It reminds me how lucky I was to go to the same great school my mom went to, and I get to have a part of her with me every day.”

— MEREDITH IODICE ’19, GFS since Sixth Grade, Davidson College

Blair Price Iodice ‘83 and Meredith Iodice ‘19 Helen Zinreich Shafer ‘93 and Serena Shafer ‘19

“My GFS education gave me everything! I had wonderful opportunities there and was never told that I couldn’t try something.

For Meredith, it was the same experience. Garrison Forest has made our mother-daughter relationship stronger. ”

“My freshman year on Parents Day, I walked into my history room, and I remember my mom saying, ‘This was my senior room when I was in high school.’ From that moment on, I walked into that room in a different way because I feel a connection to its history.”

— BLAIR PRICE IODICE ‘83

— SERENA SHAFER ’19, GFS since Threes, Drexel University

Blair at Commencement in 1983

“Being at GFS made me closer to my mom. We can bond over shared traditions.

Living in the dorms, especially Senior House, was so amazing. Boarding made me more independent and also gave me an opportunity to try new things.”

— MARGARET McMAHON ’19, From left: Alex von Kessler McMahon ‘82, Margaret McMahon ‘19, Claire McMahon ‘17

GFS since Fifth Grade, Legacy Scholar and boarder, University of Vermont

“I loved that my children were in a good, safe, supportive and loving community.

They received a good education and learned life’s lessons from a community that shares the same values that I do: of honesty, hard work, respect for others, cooperation, patience, kindness faithfulness, compassion and forgiveness.”

Alex (second from right) as Dark Co-captain

“What binds all of us together is that GFS is home – it has been for Serena and it still is for me.

One of the best parts of having Serena at Serena (Kindergarten) GFS is that she has and Helen had some of the same teachers as I did. Serena has been able to find her voice and her interests and what matters to her. It was the same for me.”

— HELEN ZINREICH SHAFER ‘93

— ALEX VON KESSLER McMAHON ‘82

The Legacy Scholarship Program Garrison Forest offers two renewable merit-based legacy scholarships for any new student or current day students entering Grades 8-12 to board at Garrison Forest. Alumnae daughters, granddaughters or nieces are eligible to apply. For more information, visit gfs.org/legacy or contact Catie Gibbons, Director of Admission: catiegibbons@gfs.org, 410-559-3137.

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Faculty at the Forest AT THE HEART of all that Garrison Forest School accomplishes are the teachers, coaches and staff

members ­— masters of their profession, nurturing mentors to their students and dedicated stewards of the school’s mission and community.

Barbara Doy

20-YEAR SERVICE PIN In 1992, Garrison Forest School established the tradition of honoring faculty and staff who have attained 20 years of service to the school, a recognition of remarkable loyalty and commitment.

Barbara Doy Athletic Trainer

Barb Doy’s talent and reputation for caring for athletes’ injuries are matched only by her heart. Students know she truly cares. Parents witness her devotion as she diligently follows up on their child’s well-being. Colleagues never doubt that she will be there, pregame and prepractice and well after the final buzzer, doing all she can to ensure that Garrison Forest athletes avoid injury and can play at their best.

As GFS’s only trainer for every Grizzly sport and team and every visiting team, Barb truly shines during a game. If an athlete does get injured, Barb expertly evaluates her while being a calming presence for the athlete, teammates, coaches and parents. Postgame, her work continues, making referrals and GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

Tara O’Neal

working with athletes on rehabilitation plans and strengthening exercises. Whatever the level of competition, Barb exceeds in competence, concern and compassion.

Tara O’Neal Middle School Mathematics

The consummate professional and ultimate team player, Tara O’Neal has worn many hats at Garrison Forest: Director of Residential Life and Student Activities; Upper School and Middle School Mathematics teacher; Middle School Admissions officer; and Basketball and Softball coach.

Always with a smile, she steps in to fill whatever role is needed or complete whatever task is necessary. From planning weekend adventures for 17 years to covering a colleague’s class, Tara’s clear aptitude for problem-solving and her infectious attitude – her optimism, resilience and sense of humor are legendary on campus – come to the rescue again and again.

Dubbed a “kid magnet” by a colleague, Tara helps Sixth and Seventh Grade

students through complex equations and new concepts, sharing her love of learning with them. The heart of Tara’s teaching is how she has approached her many GFS roles – by ensuring that those around her are included, respected and loved.

Vicki Yarnell Administrative Assistant, Development

Exceptional, human-centered customer service is second nature to Vicki Yarnell.

Before joining the Development Office, Vicki worked at several banks, a mortgage company and at Black & Decker. It is at GFS, though, where her enthusiasm for helping others has blossomed. The longest-tenured member in Development, Vicki oversees almost 16,000 database records, processes thousands of gifts annually and fields calls from alumnae and parents with warmth and care.

Vicki’s true-blue spirit shines beyond her office. On Reunion Weekend and Grandparents’ Day, she can be found behind the wheel of a shuttle bus, giving directions,

FACULTY 37

Vicki Yarnell

Diane Yu receiving the Distinguished Teacher Award at Commencement from Chris Hughes

answering questions and, most recently, joining in on a sing-along with Lower School students and their grandparents.

Vicki has taught aerobics classes and befriended generations of students. Her lavish Halloween costumes are legend as is the annual staff outing she organizes to Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciation Day (wearing a bovine costume, of course).

Diane models lifelong learning by maintaining a personal studio space in Baltimore, taking workshops and mentoring art teachers-in-training at her alma mater, the Maryland Institute College of Art. A campus resident since joining GFS, Diane hosts Studio Saturdays for students to work on their portfolios and leads a GFS Arts Immersion summer camp. An enthusiastic collaborator, Diane works with her peers in each division as a member of the Creative Co-op (maker spaces) and as a Jenkins Community Service Committee member.

2019 DISTINGUISHED TEACHER AWARD In 1980, Elinor Purves McLennan ’56 and Courtney McLennan Myhrum ’79 established the Distinguished Teacher Award to recognize excellence in teaching at Garrison Forest.

Diane Yu

Visual Arts Department Chair, Upper School Visual Arts Teacher and Residential Life Faculty Member

Diane Yu has a simple goal in teaching art: to give students an opportunity to create and be seen. Diane has accomplished a great deal in her six years at Garrison Forest. She organized the first All-School Art Walk, helped lead the new Art Signing Day tradition honoring students who are attending art school and hosts print sales of students’ work. She developed the innovative Color Theory elective with its campus installations and the new Art of Science class, which she team-teaches with Debbie Oleisky, Science Department Chair. (See page 10 for an interview with Diane.)

Unflappable, patient, cheerful and thoughtful, he possesses an enduring respect for every colleague and student that makes even the most technologically challenged individual feel at ease.

Robert is equally committed to addressing the school’s strategic, long-term technology needs by staying current with the latest technology and advocating for what GFS needs to do now to be successful in the future. And he does it all with humor, warmth and devotion to the community and values of Garrison Forest.

2019 IRVIN D. McGREGOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD Created in 2008, the Irvin D. McGregor Distinguished Service Award honors a staff member who has shown an extraordinary level of dedication, commitment and excellence in service to Garrison Forest.

Robert G. Ammons III Director of Information Technology

Robert Ammons’ work and expertise touch every corner of the campus. His vast and varied responsibilities impact every student and adult, as Robert supports all GFS technology in classrooms, dorms and offices and manages numerous databases and emergency communication systems and increasingly complex video and digital teaching needs. Robert’s method, whether fixing a stubborn printer or troubleshooting a schoolwide power outage, is the same.

Robert Ammons with daughter Eve

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GFS Giving

GFS

OVER 1,500 donors, volunteers and supporters gave back to GFS in 2018-19! Your support each year provides the gift of possibilities to the students of GFS.

WE THANK YOU!

$1,337,267 raised for The Fund for Garrison Forest.

6% of the operating budget comes from The Fund.

$2,414 raised per student

100% of faculty and staff supported The Fund.

26%

alumnae participation,

raising $695,432.

78% current parent participation

ALUMNAE GIVING BY

100% trustee participation

52% Darks 48% Lights

PLEASE SUPPORT GARRISON FOREST THIS YEAR! Give or pledge online at gfs.org/give. Sign up for monthly installments. A Shriver Society gift of $1,000 over 12 months is about $84/month.

On September 3, go to gfs.org/reportongiving to read the 2018-19 Report on Giving (password: thankyou).

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2019

Spirit Team

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GIVING BACK IS PART OF WHO WE ARE. TOGETHER,

WE ARE GFS! MARION RILEY ‘19

Now a first-year student at the University of Pittsburgh with plans to study linguistics and neuroscience, this scholar, scientist, artist, athlete, leader, day and boarding student embraced every opportunity at Garrison Forest — and created a few.

I LEARNED TO PERSIST AT GARRISON FOREST and not settle for what’s on the surface but to constantly delve deeper. I have learned tenacity and grace from teachers who have always guided me to my best self.

MY JENKINS FELLOWSHIP IN SUMMER 2017 was humbling and incredible. I traveled alone to Cusco, Peru, lived with a host family and volunteered at an archaeological site.

I excavated Incan and Wari ceramics and helped uncover several large ceramics and even some unexpected bones.

MARION’S GFS YEARS IN REVIEW: » Started in Pre-First » Cum Laude » Participated in North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) for five years; founded a NACLO Club at GFS » 2018 Varsity Fall Soccer team; Captain 2019 Varsity Indoor Soccer Team » Service League: Project Captain, Civic Works (2018-19) and Head, Red Cross Blood Drive (2017-19) » Actor and crew for musicals and plays

I WORKED ON TWO DIFFERENT COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROJECTS through WISE (Women in Science and Engineering). I studied MRI data in a computer program to try to determine what areas of the brain are active while learning and recognizing letters. I also operated an eye tracker with a computer program to measure participants’ capabilities of completing tasks in their peripheral vision with one or two hands.

» Award-winning poet for GFS Callisto literary magazine » Delegate, Model UN (2017-19) BOARDING WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF UPPER SCHOOL. Living in Senior House as a junior and senior allowed me to spend time with my friends, gave me resources I did not have at home like more access to teachers and the McLennan Library and exposed me to people I would not have had a chance to interact with during the school day.

» Academic Mentor (2017-19) » Co-Head Spectrum and Spanish clubs (2017-19) » Medalist, National Latin Exam and National Classical Etymology Exam » 2019 Donald Elliot Humanities Award » George M. Shriver Award, Commencement 2019

2019 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

S P IRIT OF GIVING

[

THE CLASS OF 2019 WILL BE ATTENDING THE FOLLOWING COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES:

The Fund for Garrison Forest played an important role in the bright future of every member of the Class of 2019.

Annual, unrestricted gifts support every aspect of life and learning at GFS – and supported these talented and tenacious leaders!

Boston College Boston University Bucknell University Carnegie Mellon University Clemson University Coastal Carolina University (2) Colgate University Davidson College Drexel University (2) East Carolina University Elon University (2) Franklin & Marshall College Furman University Hampton University High Point University (2) Howard Community College Howard University Indiana University at Bloomington James Madison University (2) Johns Hopkins University Maryland Institute College of Art (2) Morgan State University New York University (2) North Carolina A&T State University Northeastern University Princeton University

[

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Rochester Institute of Technology Saint Joseph’s University Spelman College Swarthmore College Syracuse University Temple University Texas Christian University (2) Towson University (3) Tufts University Tulane University (2) University of Alabama University of California, Berkeley University of Colorado, Boulder University of Kentucky University of Massachusetts, Amherst University of Michigan University of Oregon University of Pittsburgh University of South Carolina (3) University of Vermont University of Washington Villanova University Virginia Tech (3) Wake Forest University Washington and Lee University Wellesley College

Visit gfs.org/collegelist for the full list of college acceptances.

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Campus Expansion and Improvements

ll! a F s i h gT n i n e p O

Named for GFS Trustee and former Board President Lila Boyce Lohr ’63, who served as Interim Head of School in 2017-18, the new Lohr Hall fits the campus’ historic architectural vernacular while embracing the needs of today’s boarding students.

“I continue to be inspired by the extraordinary level of support of Garrison Forest alumnae that allows the school to grow and thrive.”

The renovations of Marshall-Offutt, which was built in 1974, bring the home of the Upper School into the 21st century and create exciting curricular and co-curricular synergies for STEM and numerous other programs.

In March, Garrison Forest received a $5 million gift, the largest single philanthropic gift in the school’s 109-year history.

Gifted anonymously by an alumna, the donation supports several ongoing and future projects, including a full renovation of Marshall-Offutt and the construction of a new dormitory, both for the start of the 2019-20 school year. These projects are designed to serve students by ensuring that the school’s facilities match the high quality of its academic, residential and curricular programs.

The new dormitory honors Lila Boyce Lohr ’63, who is a GFS Trustee and former Board President and served the school as Interim Head in 2017-18. Lohr Hall houses 24 students and includes a student commons, a kitchen-dining area and several flexible meeting and conference spaces. It also features three large faculty apartments, which add to the number of faculty members who currently reside on campus.

—AUGIE CHIASERA, PRESIDENT, GFS BOARD OF TRUSTEES, AND PARENT OF GABBY ’22 AND SOPHIA ‘25

Following the recent renovation of the Elinor Purves McLennan Library, the renovation of Marshall-Offutt modernizes the science labs and relocates the Math Department adjacent to the labs.

This strategic move allows students and faculty to benefit from the increased synergy between both departments. The project also includes new language classrooms and renovated spaces for the Academic Resources Center (ARC), Residential Life offices, Counseling, new meeting rooms and several administrative and faculty offices.

“I continue to be inspired by the extraordinary level of support of Garrison Forest alumnae that allows the school to grow and thrive,” says Augie Chiasera, President of the GFS Board of Trustees and father of Gabby ’22 and Sophia ’25. “It sends a clear message that the GFS experience has a lasting and significant impact. My daughters are very fortunate to be part of this amazing community which benefits so greatly from the generosity of its graduates.”

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2019 Hall of Excellence Inductees Established by the Class of 2000 parents and grandparents, the Hall of Excellence recognizes GFS community members who have made outstanding contributions to the school and broader community.

Liza Shoemaker Kelly ’94 At both Garrison Forest and the University of Delaware, Liza was a distinguished athlete.

She helped the Blue Hens win two America East lacrosse titles and was the 1995 lacrosse Rookie of the Year in the Colonial Athletic Conference and the 1998 NCAA Woman of the Year for the State of Delaware. In addition to playing at Delaware, Liza was also a member of the U.S. national lacrosse teams from 1997 to 2003. She coached at Towson University and Boston University, where she was named America East Coach of the Year twice before becoming head coach of the women’s lacrosse team at the University of Denver. She has led the Pioneers to eight undefeated seasons (in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Big East) three runner-up finishes in the Big East Tournament, five NCAA Tournament appearances (including a trip to the Elite 8 in 2019) and an impressive 235 career wins. She serves on the NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Rules Committee and was inducted into the University of Delaware Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Baltimore Chapter of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2009.

Joan Kang Shin ’89 Joan received her B.A. in economics from Cornell University and, after falling in love with teaching English, went on to receive both her M.A. in bilingual/English for speakers of other languages and her Ph.D. in language, literacy, and culture from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. An associate professor of education at George Mason University and the academic coordinator of the Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Exceptional Learners program, Joan is known internationally for her innovation in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and was named one of the “30 Up and Coming Leaders” by the TESOL International Association. Her book Teaching Young Learners English won the 2013 Ben Warren International House Trust Prize. Our World, her groundbreaking series for National Geographic Learning (NGL), was honored with the 2014 HRH Duke of Edinburgh English Language Book Award for “Winner of Best Entry for Learners.” Recently, her NGL book series for young teens, Impact, won the 2018 English-Speaking Union English Language Award for “Resources for Secondary to Adult Learners.” As a co-editor and author for the suite of NGL English language course books, Joan is thrilled to report that NGL estimates these books are used by more than two million students and 80,000 teachers worldwide.

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Beth B. Warfield ’73 Beth has had a distinguished career as a diplomat serving both her country and the world.

Since graduating from Middlebury College (B.A. in political science) and Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (M.A. in international economics, politics and law), she has worked for 31 years in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. A member of the Senior Foreign Service, Beth is the mission director for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Mexico. Among her many achievements: transforming how USAID partners with Mexico to reduce impunity, corruption and violence; embedding principles of sustainability and local ownership in USAID investments globally; and launching USAID’s first innovation platform to reduce child deaths, stem drug-resistant tuberculosis, increase early grade reading and provide electricity to the 400 million energy poor in India. Beth gives back to GFS by serving as a member of the Board of Trustees.

Anne Colston Wentz ’58 Anne earned a B.A. at Wellesley College, graduated from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, interned at the University of Maryland Hospital (now the University of Maryland Medical Center) and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she had a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology. Her distinguished career in academic medicine includes research, teaching, patient care and administration at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. In the mid-1990s, Anne worked at the National Institutes of Health in the Center for Population Research’s contraception development branch. A pioneer in in vitro fertilization, Anne has excelled in the area of women’s issues, authoring more than 100 journal articles and speaking at global conferences. She served as president for the Society of Reproductive Endocrinologists, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology and the Society for Gynecologic Investigation. Now retired, she served as secretary/treasurer and president for the Society for Humanism in Medicine and, as a passionate conservationist, as a board member for the Montana Raptor Conservation Center. She has been happily married to Dr. Dennis K. Wentz for more than 50 years.

Hopie Brock Winthrop ’67 Hopie earned a B.A. (cum laude) in history of art at Radcliffe College and received her J.D. from the Boston University School of Law. Hopie works as a mediator in New York and is an adjunct professor of law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she teaches mediation in the Cardozo Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution. Her private practice includes the New York Supreme Court among others. She is also a mentor at the Columbia Law School for students in the Mediation Seminar. Under the auspices of the New York Peace Institute, Hopie has mediated multiparty communitywide cases and victim offender dialogues. She has been a member of the New York State Unified Court System’s Mediation Advisory Committee on Ethics and Mediators Beyond Borders; she was also a member of the New York City Bar Association Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution. Hopie has been a member of the Harvard University Committee on University Resources and the Harvard Dean’s Committee on Women and Leadership, and she has been a board member for the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the New York Historical Society. Currently, Hopie is on the board of Network 20/20, an independent educational organization that engages rising and established professionals in foreign policy.

For a full list of Hall of Excellence inductees since 2007, criteria for selection and nomination forms, visit gfs.org/alumnae.

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Leadership at the Forest GARRISON FOREST CONGRATULATES the award winners and welcomes new Board of Trustee members.

2018 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNA AWARD

Helen Zinreich Shafer ‘93

2018 H. BRIAN DEADY AWARD

Alex von Kessler McMahon ‘82 and Chuck McMahon

Helen Zinreich Shafer ‘93 and Chris Hughes at the 2018 Leadership Recognition Dinner

A GFS Board member since 2011 and Vice President for the past four years, Helen Zinreich Shafer ’93 has chaired the Development Committee, co-chaired the Head of School Search Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee. She and husband P.J. endowed the Shafer Family Fund for Faculty Support.

Her professional and community leadership is equally as focused. A graduate of the University of Vermont, Helen was founder and CEO of IZI Medical Products, a medical supply business created by her physician parents, which she led from startup to a commercial success. Helen and P.J. founded The Shafer Center for Early Intervention, a Baltimore-area school for children who have autism or other developmental delays. She serves as Shafer Center president and is a board member of the Autism Society Baltimore-Chesapeake. Daughter Serena ’19 shares her mother’s work ethic, curiosity and passion for all things GFS.

Established in 2001 in memory of extraordinary parent volunteer H. Brian Deady by his wife Pat and daughter Anne ’01, this award honors the parent volunteer who best exemplifies Brian’s devoted service to Garrison Forest. Parents of Claire ’17 and Margaret ’19, the McMahons’ blood runs true (Dark) blue. (Alex was co-captain of the Dark Blue spirit team at GFS.) Chuck, who is president of CMA Real Estate Advisors, has been a Class Fund Agent, Tiny House Project Consultant and Class Parent. Alex, a grants specialist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has served as an Alumnae Board Member, Parent Association Residential Hospitality Liaison, Grade Fund Agent and Class Fund Agent. A breast cancer survivor, she chaired GFS’s efforts for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with her ever-present smile, organization and inspiring dedication to finding a cure.

Chuck McMahon and Alex von Kessler McMahon ‘82 with daughter Claire McMahon ‘17 at the 2018 Leadership Recognition Dinner

Augie Chiasera, President of the Board

On July 1, 2019, August “Augie” Chiasera began his tenure as President of the Garrison Forest Board of Trustees. A board member since 2016, Augie and his wife Melissa are the parents of Gabby ’22 and Sophia ’25. He is senior vice president and regional president of M&T Bank, where he’s worked since 1993. Augie has a B.S. magna cum laude from Boston University and an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. A graduate of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s (GBC) Leadership program, Augie serves on the board of the GBC, Center Stage and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, among other boards, and is chairman of the Baltimore Development Corporation. At Garrison Forest, he served on the 2017 Head of School Search Committee, as Chair of the Finance Committee and as a Grade Fund Agent.

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NEW TRUSTEES Jennifer Lawrence ’85 Parent, Josie Tidmore ‘20 An internist and endocrinologist, Jennifer is founder and medical director of the South Georgia Medical Center Diabetes Management Center. She practices at the Valdosta Specialty Clinic. The past president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (Georgia chapter), Jennifer holds a B.S. from Haverford College and an M.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She completed her fellowship with Harvard Medical School. A Cum Laude member, Jennifer has been a Cum Laude speaker, Career Day panelist and Class News Agent.

Lila Boyce Lohr ’63 President of the GFS Board from 2005 to 2011 and recent Interim Head of School, Lila is a national leader in education.

Her first headship was at St. Paul’s School for Girls, and she was Princeton Day School’s first female head before holding interim headships at Friends School of Baltimore, Marin Country Day School and currently, Seattle’s University Prep. A Vassar graduate, she holds an M.Ed. from Goucher College and studied business administration at Johns Hopkins. Lila was the 2012 GFS Distinguished Alumna awardee and holds numerous board memberships.

Kate Schroeder O’Neill ’93 Kate, who is chief of staff in the Chairman’s Office at Bloomberg LP, has been Overall Chair of The Fund for Garrison Forest, Class Fund Agent, Alumnae Board member, 2013 Reunion Committee member, co-host of the New York Centennial Toast from Coast to Coast and Reunion Gift Chair. She holds a B.A. in political science from Trinity College, and prior to Bloomberg, she worked in various positions at Sotheby’s. Board memberships have included the Associates Committee of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Literacy Partners.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2019-20 Brooks Paternotte Parent, Emma ’28 Executive director of the Irvine Nature Center, Brooks also taught at St. Ignatius Loyola Academy and Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, where he was Middle School head.

He holds a B.A. in English and Latin from Colgate University and an M.Ed. in secondary curriculum and instruction from Loyola University Maryland. Brooks serves on the boards of No More Stolen Childhoods, the Association of Nature Center Administrators and the Caves Valley Land Trust.

Christa Riepe ’91 Christa earned a B.A. in American studies from Colby College and a B.A. in athletic training at Endicott College. She has worked exclusively with the U.S. Ski Team for the last 15 years as head certified athletic trainer for the women’s and men’s alpine teams for their World Cup season, multiple world championships and the last five Winter Olympic Games. She has also owned her own business, consulted with Red Bull and recently returned to Maryland to start an educational farm focused on regenerative practices. A past Reunion Gift Chair, Christa has spoken to students about her career.

George Sakellaris Parent, Angenie ’27, Natalie ’28 and Emma ’31 George is a portfolio manager of mid-cap growth strategy and an associate portfolio manager for the small-cap growth strategy with Brown Advisory. Prior, he started and managed small-cap growth strategy at Credo Capital Management and served as director of research for GARP Research & Securities. A Gilman graduate, George received a B.S. in physiology/ neurobiology from the University of Maryland and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland R.H. Smith School of Business.

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD August J. Chiasera, President Helen Zinreich Shafer ’93, Vice President Amabel Boyce James ’70, Treasurer Emily Gardner Baratta ’88, Secretary BOARD OF TRUSTEES Crystal Lee Alston ’96 Patricia G. Autrey ’98 W. Bradley Bennett Cassandra Naylor Brooks ’85 Kimberly Hubbard Cashman ’85 Diana Warfield Daly ’74 David M. DiPietro Gretta Gordy Gardner ’86 Stacy Garrett-Ray ’92 Timothy W. Hathaway Elisabeth Owen Hayes ’81 Sarah LeBrun Ingram ’84 Catherine Y. Jackson ’83 Elizabeth R. Kokinis Peter J. Korzenewski Jennifer E. Lawrence ’85 Lila Boyce Lohr ’63 Kristopher A. Mallahan Peter D. Maller Robyne O. McCullough ’07 Catherine Schroeder O’Neill ’93 W. Brooks Paternotte Christina N. Riepe ’91 George J. Sakellaris Elizabeth B. Searle ’74 Elizabeth B. Warfield ’73 William L. Yerman Jianguang Zhao EX-OFFICIO James M. Beam Deanna L. Gamber ’85 Anna Waters Gavin ’00 Christopher A. Hughes Stacy A. Korzenewski Ashley East Rogers ‘97 TRUSTEES EMERITI Frank A. Bonsal, Jr. Robert S. Brennen Mathias J. DeVito Molly Mundy Hathaway ’61 Henry H. Hopkins Elinor Purves McLennan ’56 Francis G. Riggs Clare H. Springs ’62 Frederick W. Whitridge Katherine R. Williams

2019 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL